Thermal Attraction
by AislingAer
Summary: When Rory, the adopted cousin of Angel, comes across a powerless and badly injured Pyro on the street, he takes him to Xavier's for care, but later to find out, taking in a renegade mutant is the least of his worries. PyroOC SLASH
1. Part of the Club

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING…except for Rory, everything else is property of Marvel and Fox. So please don't sue me!!! .;;**

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******_Chapter 1 – Part of the Club_**

It had been almost six months since the incident at Alcatraz Island. The media had a bomb with it, and it really didn't help mutant standing in the least. It was actually two days after that when his powers manifested fully. It had started three years prior, but apparently that was merely his body altering itself to fully withstand everything that would occur during the weaning process of his mutation. At least that's what an old family friend had said. The day after his manifestation, the group of people known as the X-Men, well, not all of them, just the ones who were called Wolverine and Storm, came to pick him up. Now, almost half a year later, Rory walked quietly towards the office of Charles Xavier. He had just been up in his room studying when he got the psychic message that he wanted to see him. He walked at a slow pace, seeing as how it didn't seem that urgent. Hell, even if it was urgent he'd still walk at a pace that made him comfortable. He smirked when he saw Rogue walking the other way.

"Hey Rory," she said with an obvious 'I'm doing this only to be polite' tone.

"Hey Rogue, sucked your boyfriend dry yet?" his smirk grew when he saw the look on her face.

"You know Rory, you could try being less of an asshole and instead be a bit more social." She sneered.

"I'll make a note of that, at least when everyone in this damn school stops treating me like I'm the human manifestation of the plague." He spat back.

"They're just being ignorant."

"No, they're blaming me for the biggest travesty in mutant history. It's not like I can help it if my uncle is a complete idiot!" he stopped before his voice got any louder then marched the rest of the way to Xavier's office, not even bothering to knock.

When he closed the door he turned to see not only Xavier, but Ororo and Logan as well. "Hello Rory, have a seat." He gladly took it, throwing a leg over the arm and reclining a bit. Logan gave him a small glare. "Rory," the professor began, "I would like to talk to you about your social standing at the school. It seems that many of the students are still apprehensive to you being here, and I think that I have a solution for that."

Rory quirked an eyebrow, "I didn't know you had the power to work miracles as well Professor."

Storm stepped forwards, as Logan gave up the glare and gave a slight smirk at the comment, "Rory, we would like for you to help out with teaching the newer mutants control," uh oh, Rory hated that tone in her voice, it showed that she wasn't giving a suggestion…more of an order. "Meet me in my classroom at eight-o'clock tomorrow morning to start."

Rory gave himself a moment to let everything that this entailed to sink in. "Fine, fine, I'll help you teach the midgets, I'd just better not get thrown through a wall." He added at the end.

"Good, then you can return to your studying for tonight," Storm said as Rory quickly got up and headed for the door.

He returned to his room and spent the rest of the night there, studying and listening to music. When he finally went to bed he thought about what his new 'job' was going to be like. He wondered just what "teaching the students control" would entail, and just how many trips to the infirmary he would have to schedule in advance. "_Dammit,_" he thought to himself as he turned off the light and rested his head on the pillow, "_I'm gonna die."_

The next morning came, and Rory once again had to resist throwing his alarm across the room. He laid in bed for a few more minutes before finally getting up to the tune of his bladder screaming bloody murder. Lazily walking over to the bathroom, and cursing himself for being male while he stood two feet away from the toilette to pee, he flushed and looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes went over his boxer-clad frame. All in all, he liked the way he looked. For only being nineteen he had a decent body, which he partially attributed to Logan's training routines. He stood at around five eleven, with toned muscles covering every inch of his body. If anything he'd have to say that he had a swimmers build, which was fine for him, he wouldn't be able to stand having huge bulging muscles like Logan. He scratched his arm absentmindedly. He loved his skin tone, a nice smooth creamy white, intriguingly absent of freckles, but plenty of well-placed tattoos to fill an eye. It was the perfect compliment to his bright, straight, fire-red hair, and crystal green eyes. In the eyes of society, and what they think defines beauty, he was a walking god, and he knew it.

He sighed and turned his attention to the shower, turning the knobs and waiting for the water to reach the right temperature. He hopped in once it was warm enough, then five minutes later, hopped back out. Ten minutes later, he was dried off, dressed, and heading out the door to go to Ororo's class. By the time he reached it his watch had just hit eight-o-clock, and as usual in schools, _everyone_ turned around when he opened the door, including Ororo, who was the only one that smiled.

"Glad to see that you made it Rory," she smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Class, this is Rory O'Donnel, he's going to be helping me out for the rest of the semester with the lessons. Keep in mind that while he's here he is an instructor and should be treated as such." She smiled at him one last time and gave his shoulder a re-affirming squeeze. "So," and the lesson began, "who can tell me the five classifications of mutants?" she asked the class, leaning on her desk.

Rory took a keen interest in this question, as he still didn't know his classification. An older boy raised his hand in the back of the classroom, Ororo nodded to him to speak.

"The classifications are one, two, three, four, five." He smirked, thinking he was hot shit.

The class giggled at the smartass comment, Rory narrowed his eyes a bit, and Ororo just smiled and shook her head. "As correct as you are Mr. Lamar, you couldn't be more wrong." The class giggled again, albeit for a different reason this time, "With the classifications comes a descriptor," she walked to the blackboard, "Class one mutants, which make up around nine percent of the mutant population, are described as having no real mutation other than an altered physical appearance. Class two mutants, which make up twenty-one percent, have mutations that generally affect only them. Class three mutants are a bit more versatile, and common as they can directly affect their surroundings, be it with increased strength or low-level telekinesis, forty-eight percent makes up this category," she paused for a moment to let all of this sink in. Rory looked around the room and saw most of the kids trying to figure out which classification they would be placed in so far. She continued, "Class four mutants are more powerful as they can affect a wide area. Around twenty-two percent of all mutants in existence are class four. They can have varying abilities, such as increased strength and speed, or extremely powerful telepathy, such as Professor Xavier," the class gasped at hearing this. Who would have expected the professor to be a level four? "Now, the last classification, obviously is a class five. These mutants are categorized as having almost limitless potential with their powers, which can be just as varied as class fours, but more in depth. What makes them so powerful is that they can control their powers down to individual molecules…which is also what makes them so dangerous should they choose to use their powers for wrong. Now," she leaned on her desk again, "any questions?"

"Ms. Monroe, you got up to one-hundred percent with the first four classes…are there any class fives?" a young girl asked in the front row.

Ororo's expression turned solemn, and she seemed to gather herself before answering the question, "Not anymore Julie, no."

"Was she cured?" the boy next to her asked, but was glaring at Rory, which he challenged with one of his own.

"No Doug," Ororo interrupted their staring contest, "she died."

The class fell quiet as it finally occurred to most of them who she was talking about, and a few who were at the institute when Alcatraz was destroyed shuddered involuntarily. Rory on the other hand, was too busy thinking. He remembered what his family friend has said about him, that she had finally found someone who could match up to Xavier's favorite pet. She had never explained to him why she said that. "Uh…Ororo," Rory spoke up for the first time in class, "would you mind if I excused myself," he more informed than asked. She nodded and he made his way out of the classroom in somewhat of a hurry, reaching into his pocket to pull out his cell phone as he did.

No more than three minutes had passed when Rory walked back into the classroom with an irked look on his face. He knew that she was busy on Tuesdays, but he'd expect someone to realize it was important when the same person calls more than ten times in a row! He was going to have to remember to berate her for this.

"Is everything okay Rory?" Ororo asked from behind her desk.

He was about to answer when he noticed the kid in the front row, Doug, was holding his foot out trying to trip him. Rory stopped right behind his foot and looked at it's owner, who was giving a lame attempt at trying to act like he didn't know what was going on. So Rory put a foot on the bottom of his desk and shoved it about a foot to the side, then walked by.

"What was that for?!" Doug spat in a faux innocent tone.

Without even looking at him and continuing his way to Ororo's desk he replied, "For not knowing how to be underhanded and sneaky," he turned to face him after the word 'sneaky', "That's why," and shot him a shit-eating grin. "I mean, geeze Ororo, just what are you teaching these kids that they don't know how to be devious?"

The African woman stood up, trying to stifle the smile on her face, "As you remember Mr. O'Donnel, I am teaching them how to focus, use, and control their powers. As for their attitudes, well, that's more Dr. McCoy's area. And you and Doug here are in luck, his class is right after mine," she finished, giving him a coy grin. Rory smiled in return, he was going to like this new 'job' thing.

The rest of the class went by smoothly. They talked about keeping emotions in check so that their powers don't go haywire, and the best ways to control their emotions. Afterwards Ororo held him back to talk to him. "What's up?" Rory asked her as he sat on a desk.

She once again leaned against her own, "I just wanted to let you know that you did extremely well for your first day, especially with how you handled Doug. I must say that I was expecting that infamous language of yours to make an appearance."

Rory laughed a bit, "Oh I wanted to, believe me. However I was taught to always keep people on their toes, keep them guessing what you're going to do next, and to never let too many people know what you're capable of. And if you can get them to think that they can predict what you're going to do, then that's even better, because it makes them feel even more like an idiot when you prove them wrong. Because while we may be evolved humans, we're still human, and the thought processes are the same."

"Well that's certainly an interesting way to go about things, mind if I asked who taught you this?"

"Just one of my father's many multi-millionaire friends that he's always hanging out with. She was different from the rest of them though, she was always interested in me and what I was doing. She would spend hours teaching me how to read people's body movement, so that I could always know whether or not they were lying to me. And she was the first person I ever came out to."

"She sounds like quite an intelligent and accepting woman."

"She is, she's actually somewhat of a second-mother to me. She doesn't even care that I'm a mutant"

They both turned when they heard the door open, and saw Beast walk into the room. "Ah, good morning Ororo, I take it class went well?"

"As well as could be expected Hank," she smiled and gave him a hug.

"Well," Rory spoke up, "I should probably get going, I need to make it to Professor Xavier's class in less than five minutes."

"Alright Rory, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Cool, see ya," he gave them both a smile and a wave before he walked out of the classroom.

Hank watched the door for a few seconds then spoke, "What a nice young man. It amazes me how he couldn't have made any friends his own age yet," he sighed as he spoke again, "Curse of being a member of the Worthington family I suppose. His refusal to use his powers doesn't help in that fact. Most of the children think that he's ashamed of being a mutant."

As Hank was speaking, a thought seemed to dawn on Ororo and she laughed a bit, "Actually, I think that he may be playing a game with the entire student body."

Hank raised his eyebrows, "Beg pardon?"

Ororo explained to him the conversation that her and Rory were having just before he came in. "I see, this should be quite an interesting semester then."

Rory made his way through the halls towards the garage. He half expected someone to be there to stop him, but shrugged it off…it wasn't like they would have the authority. He reached the door and stepped into the cool stale air of the mansion's massive garage. Dozens of cars found homes here, many of which were student's who were old enough to drive, and responsible enough to care for an automobile. He walked passed about ten cars before he got to his. The dark forest green with black overlay paint shined magnificently on the brand new Aston Martin Vanquish S. He _loved_ his car, but he loved clubbing and having a good time more, so it was time get going.

It didn't take him long to get there, seeing as how it was only five miles away…and he couldn't help but speed. When he pulled up to the club he got out and handed the keys to the valet, then walked in, completely shrugging off the bouncer. When he got into the heart of the club a light techno beat caressed his ears, teasing him with the fact that it was only noon. He walked up to a set of stairs that were hidden away in the back and scaled them calmly. As he got to the door someone was already opening it, "Rory, do you have to walk so slow, it really is a pain in the ass."

He looked up a couple of steps at the familiar face, "Think of it as a light no-carb dose of revenge for not answering my calls earlier." He smirked.

"Don't get cheeky, there's some people in here that I want you to meet," she stated, practically pushing him in. When he regained his composure he looked around the room only to find what seemed to be the most pompous, snotty, spoiled, rich fucks that his father typically consorted with.

"Listen, if all you wanted to do is introduce me to the grown-up members of the lollipop-guild, the I'm leaving right-fucking now," he said irritably.

The oldest man there spoke up after Rory's comment, "My Queen, you told us that you would be showing us a man worthy enough to be our bishop, and instead, you bring us this obnoxious brat! What do you mean by this?"

Yep, that pushed a button, "Emma, start explaining before I kill this man with the wire-hanger that he should have been aborted with!" he spat, maybe a bit overkill though.

The woman put a finger to Rory's lips to shut him up, "Rory O'Donnel," she walked over to the group of people, "I'd like to introduce you…to the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club."

"…Shit."

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******So, first off, thanks to whoever reads this, it's a bit short, but a good introductory chapter to the o/c of Rory and just how much shit he has to deal with. Sorry, I know it's kinda a lot to digest in just the first chapter, but hey, I described this story as a Drama, so...just think of it as a mutant soap opera on crack...that's at least somewhat more tolerable than a true soap opera...i hope.  
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	2. Meeting New People

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING…except for Rory, everything else is property of Marvel and Fox. So please don't sue me!!! .;;**

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Chapter 2 – Meeting New People

Rory sped down the highway, cursing Emma under his breath. The gall that woman had. She knew that his temper would get the best of him and make him look like a fool in front of those people. The bitch. He turned his mp3 player to 'Disturbed' and turned the volume up to near ear shattering.

He sped the rest of the way back to the Institute, narrowly missing hitting the automatic gate. Not even bothering to park his car in the garage, he stepped out and hit the security lock then strolled into the main entrance to the institute. He sent out glares to whoever locked eyes with him and headed towards the stairs, "Rory," came a voice from his right, he turned to see Dr. McCoy walking towards him, "the professor would like to speak with you," the older mutant looked at the expression on the young man's face, "Are you okay my boy? You seem somewhat irked."

"Just a stressful business meeting," Rory replied, hiding the truth.

"Well, if you need advice or just to talk to someone then you know where my office is," Hank gave him a gentle smile and patted his shoulder.

Rory marched the rest of the way to the Professor's office and opened the doors a bit forcefully. He wasn't surprised to see Ororo and Logan standing with the professor. When he sat down and looked at the professor, the older man's expression changed to a more serious one. "Logan, Ororo, could you wait outside for a moment, there's something that I need to discuss with young Mr. O'Donnel."

Following suit, the two elder mutants walked out of the room and closed the door behind them. Rory couldn't help it but be in 'business mode', and if it was any other person than the professor, they would have probably crumpled under his gaze.

"Rory," the professor began, "I would like to talk to you about your current standing with the rest of the student body. I understand that you have been raised to always hold more cards than you let on."

"Haven't we already had this conversation Professor?" Rory asked nonchalantly.

"Yes, that we have. I bring it up again, though, because Storm has recently brought the issue to me."

Rory let this soak in for a moment, "She figured it out huh?" he smiled a bit, "Well, she's an intelligent woman, extremely intelligent for that matter. It honestly doesn't surprise me at all."

The professor smiled, "Me neither. However I was thinking that it was time to schedule a training session for you in the danger room, so that we can once again try to get a full grasp as to what your mutation is."

"I told you before professor, I don't think that it would be a good idea. With what happened last time – "

"It happens Rory. To everyone. And I understand that what you're doing with the students is helping you be able to keep your emotions in check by keeping everyone at arm's length, no matter what the circumstance, but when you walk into my school as angry as you just were then it poses a possible risk to those students," he paused for a moment to let this sink in.

Rory let the statement do it's sinking. Mostly he was just trying to calm himself down, he hated being talked to like he was a child. He understood that the professor wanted to protect the students, he wanted to as well, they were just kids after all. Dammit why did Emma have to be such an aggravating person?

The professor's eyes widened. He had been listening to Rory's thoughts for the session, and so far what he had been hearing had actually made him smile on the inside…but hearing the name 'Emma' threw him completely. "Rory," the professor spoke up in a more gentle tone, "may I ask you again why you keep most everyone at arm's length?"

"Because," Rory said with a hint of annoyance, "when you get attatched to someone, then you can loose control of your emotions easier, especially when that person is young. That's why I only open up to the teachers. They can match the mindset that I was brought up to have."

"And was this taught to you by your old family friend Emma?"

"Yes," Rory replied, "wait, why were you digging around inside my head?!"

"I was trying to help calm you down. All that I could hear were surface thoughts. I promise you, anything that you want to keep a secret is still just that."

Rory accepted this answer, he had no reason to distrust the professor, just as the professor had no reason to distrust him. "Listen, Professor, I'm sorry for letting her get me so mad, but now you can see why I don't want to really get attached to anyone here. Hell, it's enough just having to deal with her."

"Yes, I do see your point Rory. Maybe with time and more mental training you will be able to become more sociable, but for now keep doing what seems to work for you."

"Thanks professor."

"Now, onto the previous topic of your training," the professor stated, Ororo and Logan walking in shortly after the comment. "While we agree with your mental and emotional training, you also need to train your powers."

"I still don't know," Rory said, very unsure of himself.

"We're not saying that you should exert yourself Rory," Ororo chimed in, "just that you should start exercising your powers and get used to them."

"That's also why," Logan chimed in, "we're offering the Danger Room for you to practice in. That way you can still continue your little 'game' with the students." Logan smirked at the end, he obviously found what Rory was doing to be quite entertaining.

Rory looked at all of them, he knew that they wanted to help him, and he did know that he had to work on his powers. "Well," he sighed, he couldn't believe he was giving in, "I don't see what it would hurt. Would you mind if I asked one thing though?"

"Not at all."

"Well, could I have Emma there for the training?"

"I would see no problem with that…but before you do I would like to have a meeting with her."

"She should be fine with that." Rory replied, though he was somewhat unsure, especially with recent events and whatnot.

"Good then, do you think that you could get her over here sometime in the next week?" Ororo asked.

"If she decides to answer her phone this time, yes," he answered.

"Well then, now that that's settled, you may go back to what you were doing," the professor stated, finishing the conversation.

For the second time that day, Rory walked out of the Professor's office feeling somewhat unsure of himself, and for the third time that day he walked out of a meeting with no hint whatsoever as to what was going to happen. "I need a cigarette."

He walked to the back of the institute, weaving his way through the halls and to the back door. He stepped out onto the porch, greeted by the warm glow of the summer sun. Reaching into his pocket and pulling out the pack of Camel's, he sighed as he realized that he forgot his lighter. '_Great_,' he thought to himself. He thought about what the professor said about training and getting used to his powers. '_No, not yet,_' he thought again. He could just go find Logan, that man always had a lighter on him, but he didn't know where to look right now. His eye turned towards the memorials in the garden and he walked over to them. The professor's had been taken down a few month's prior upon everyone finding out that he wasn't really dead. The only ones that stood now held the names 'Jean Grey' and 'Scott Summers'. He paused for a moment of silence, then was kneeling down to the torch on Jean Grey's headstone when a strong wind came and blew it out. '_You've gotta be kidding me,_' he thought again. Guess he had no other choice. He looked around to make sure that no one else was around then turned his attention to the unlit torch. He began to focus on the center of it, willing the air just above the fuel to grow warmer and warmer.

"…y_es…that's it…_"

He focused harder, letting the power grow at his point of concentration.

"…_more…_"

The air could take no more and breathed life into a small flame, then slowly, as if dancing, spread across the fuel.

"_More…_"

He couldn't resist obeying the voice in the back of his head…he continued to build on the flame, making it grow higher and stronger.

"_Let me help you…_"

He allowed the voice take control, and the fire took life.

Rory had just left the room when the professor spoke, "I have some concerns about Rory."

"What about?" Logan asked in his usual 'care to explain' tone.

"When him and I were talking, I was scanning his surface thoughts while trying to calm him down. He was berating himself for being mad at a person named 'Emma', who I can only assume is the old family friend that he keeps talking about."

"Emma?" Ororo asked, as if the name left a bad taste in her mouth.

"Yes Storm, the name caught my interest as well. So I probed a bit deeper, and wasn't surprised to find it was the very same Emma that is on your mind now."

"So just who is this Emma?" Logan asked, somewhat disgruntled at the fact that they weren't really explaining a damned thing.

"Emma Frost," the Professor started, "Is an old acquaintance of mine. She, like myself, is a telepath, and almost as powerful as I am."

"However," Storm took over, "unlike the Professor, she uses her powers to gain wealth and power. Have you ever heard of Frost Industries?"

"Yeah. It's one of the biggest industries in the U.S. People say that the owner is worth billions."

"Then you've heard of Emma Frost," the Professor said.

"So, the kid's friends with an extremely powerful and wealthy telepath. I say good on 'im."

"It's not that simple Logan. She was a documented genius before her powers manifested. She only used her powers to get to know the right people, the rest was done just by herself…and she's taught Rory a good deal of what she knows, basically training him."

"Okay, so she taught the kid to be smart, I'm not gonna complain."

"Neither would I," the professor stated, "but knowing Emma, there's a reason behind why she would do this. I just don't know what it is."

"Listen," Logan had an irritated tone, "I don't see why it's such a big deal. Even if she is a bad person it's not like he's gonna –"

Logan was stopped short when they all felt something that frightened them all to the bone. Not even two seconds had gone by and it was empty. They ran out into the hall where they were met by Beast, Iceman, and Rogue, and only stopped when they reached the back patio.

Beast was the only one who spoke, "…the being rose from the ashes that were it's grave… spread it's flaming wings towards the sky…and reborn was the phoenix…"

The fire twisted and turned, crawling in and out of itself. Before Rory's eyes, and under the voice's control, it began to take form.

"_Who are you?"_ he thought to the voice.

The fire took the form of a magnificent bird, wings extended and proud.

"_I am the Phoenix, and with your help, I will be re-born."_

The voice that belonged to the Phoenix seemed to fade away, though Rory still had no control over his powers. He heard someone speak from behind him and recognized it as the voice of Dr. McCoy. The bird of fire looked behind the young mutant at the on-lookers and folded it wings in. Then, bowing it's head, it seemed to shed a tear of fire into the unlit torch that lay beneath it, giving it life again.

The bird of fire burned away afterwards, leaving Rory with control again. It wasn't until then that he realized that he had been crying, as he felt the wet streaks on his face. He felt someone put their hands on his shoulders and he turned to see Ororo with a concerned look on her face. She led him inside and onto one of the couches in the rec-room, the Professor and Beast right beside them. For a few moments he just sat there, mulling over what had just happened with his head resting in his hands.

"Rory?" Ororo said in a gentle tone, "Rory what happened?" she asked, kneeling in front of him with her hands on his.

He looked up at her with sadness and confusion in his eyes. "I…I don't…" he stopped when a group of students came down the stairs and over to where they were sitting, all of them asking questions as to what had just happened. Rory lost himself in his thoughts while Beast tried to deal with the group of youngsters that had just shown up.

"Kids, calm down!" Beast said, trying to talk over them, "everything is okay."

"Well then what was he doing to Dr. Grey's grave?!" yelled a kid in the middle, it was the same kid that tried to trip Rory earlier in class. "Does he hate his own kind so much that he'll disrespect the dead?!"

"Douglas!" yelled Dr. McCoy.

So much for thinking. Rory stood up and walked out of the room, heading for the front door. "Rory!" Ororo yelled from behind him, but he ignored her. Once outside he got in his car, started it up, and sped off the grounds of the institute. He just needed to drive and think.

Back at the institute, the word chaos couldn't even begin to describe what was happening. Bobby had taken over trying to calm the students down…or at least shut them up, while Storm, the professor, Logan, and Beast were talking over what had happened.

"What just happened there Professor? Rory couldn't have done all of that by himself, not with the way that he was acting afterwards." Logan stated.

"I honestly don't know Logan. But I think that Jean may not be dead."

"Is that even possible?" Storm asked.

"For many people, yes. However, with how powerful Jean was, I find it quite possible to believe that her brain may still be functioning, at least on a small scale." The professor explained.

Storm thought for a moment, "Why did she choose to show herself to Rory?"

"That, I don't know. But I think that we may find some answers from his old friend Emma Frost."

Rory sped into the city of New York. He had grown tired of seeing the countryside and wanted to see the high-rises of one of the richest cities on the planet. He couldn't help it, they made him feel at home.

He found a parking garage and went inside. A few minutes later he walked out onto the streets of downtown New York. Weaving through the hustle and bustle, he thought about what had happened again. He just couldn't understand it. He was going to have to talk to Emma about this. Looking around and taking in the cityscape, his eyes landed on the directory of the building next to him. God he hated irony.

Rory walked in and went straight into the elevator, pressing the button for the thirty-ninth floor. A few stops were made on the way up, each one introducing one of the usual upper-class business types. Rory noticed that none of them pressed a different button…they were all going to the same floor. He glanced to the side of him and realized that he had seen a few of them before. "_Fuck,_" he said to himself, they were the Hellfire bitches. He wasn't in the mood for this. The 'ding' finally came for the thirty-ninth floor and they all left the elevator. They marched in front of him and stopped at the secretary's desk, Rory simply walked past them and headed towards the office door.

"Sir. Sir you can't go in there!" the secretary called from behind.

Rory stopped and turned towards her, "You say that too me again and you'll be standing in the unemployment line for the next five years. Got it?" and continued walking. He heard her calling security but didn't care, he'd just deal with them when they got there.

He threw open the doors and stepped into the massive office.

"Rory O'Donnel," Emma turned in the chair, "to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"First off Emma, you can explain to me why you decided to let me make a fool of myself in front of the Hellfire Club! Then you can go onto the topic of why you let them know I'm a mutant!" he finished, placing his hands on her desk.

She smiled, "Do you know what the inner circle of the Hellfire club is made up of Rory? People like you, and me. People, who not only have the intelligence to survive in high society…people who also have the 'power', as it were, to bring that same society to it's knees."

He raised an eyebrow at her emphasis on the word 'power'. "You'd better not mean what I think you mean Emma."

She continued as if he didn't say anything, "The Inner Circle of the Hellfire club is a secret society of people who stay along the sidelines and observe the happenings within both human, and mutant societies. When it comes to Xavier's white, and Eric Lensher's black…we are the grey. Stepping in when we have everything to gain from it, and nothing to lose."

"So basically, you're full of a bunch of pussies that don't give a shit about anyone but themselves. I see."

"You could put it that way. But you'd be wrong to do so. What we do, is use our powers to make sure that no side gets the advantage. Which we were unable to do six months ago."

"Understandable, seeing as how one side had a Class five working with them."

"Yes, that was one thing that we didn't anticipate."

"Well, sounds like you need to get better mutants. Speaking of which, you never told me that you were one why?"

"Just think of everything that I taught you and you'll understand."

"Fair enough, but why do you want me in the club? I suck at memorizing secret handshakes you know." He smirked, she smiled at the smartass comment…just like old times.

She leaned forward and pressed the intercom, "Jane, if the security guards are here, could you let them in to escort this young man out please?" she took her finger off of the intercom and gave Rory a shit-eating grin.

From behind the doors opened and two _very_ large men walked in and took Rory by the shoulders

"Do you really have to be touching me to escort me out?" Rory asked, "Or do you just like having your hands on young boys like me?" he finished as he shot the larger of them a glare. Both of their grips tightened.

"Just get your ass moving you little shit."

"And now you're making comments about my ass…I'm starting to think that you might be one of those perverts that like playing 'daddy'. What are you going to do next, spank me?" he shot Emma a smirk.

They both jerked him backwards to get him moving…and that was all he needed. He used the momentum and grabbed their shirts while they were off balance, forcing them to collide together. Then jumped up and placed his feet on both of their backs and kicked out, sending both of them stumbling into Emma's desk, and him flipping backwards and landing on his feet. They turned around and he turned sideways like Logan had taught him, it was the perfect position to be ready for anything that your opponent may throw at you.

"Looks like we're 'gonna have to do this the hard way then." The bigger one said with a slight sadistic tone. He ran at Rory, preparing to punch, "_Let instinct take over,_" the same voice from earlier came out of nowhere. Rory shook it off and dodged, then swung his right leg up and to the left, tripping the man. Then, making a full circle, brought his foot down on the man's back, just at the base of the spine. At this point the other guard was halfway to Rory, about to tackle him. The young mutant jumped up, digging his right foot into the other guard and turned upside-down in the air, and grabbed the guard's shoulders and turning around. He once again let the guard's momentum do the job as Rory fell and placed both of his feet on the guard's back, then kicked out, sending the man's head colliding into the door, which proceeded to burst open as he fell into the entryway. The man landed right in front of the secretary…and the Inner Circle.

Rory landed from the flip, slightly unsure of what just happened, and how he did it. "I need to go." He stated, then walked out. The members of the Inner circle made way for him and turned back towards Emma when he entered the elevator.

Emma looked at all of them and turned away from them in her chair. She had heard the voice in Rory's head…and she wanted to know who it was.

Rory exited the building and walked towards the parking garage. He was almost there when something in an alley-way caught his eye. Three guys beating the hell out of some kid. As much as he wanted to ignore it and keep walking…his conscience was screaming. Great. He walked down the alley to where the fight was. "Hey!"

One of the guys turned around, "Fuck off kid, this ain't your business!" then continued the beating.

He walked up behind the group and grabbed the one who talked by the neck, "Talk to me like that and I'll make it my business!" he said in his ear, then shoved him against the wall. Yep, that got their attention.

"Ey' holmes! You got a problem man?!" the one in the wife-beater said.

"Heh, yeah, look at this punk. Thinkin' he's hot shit or somethin'," the one in the hoodie spouted, "preppy-ass white boy think he's out ta' save the fuckin day!"

They began circling him, which he watched with mild interest. At least they weren't beating on that kid anymore. He saw the one in the hoodie make a move to punch him and he let his instincts kick in. Hoodie's fist landed right on Rory's gut, but stopped right at the surface, not even making an impact. Rory looked at him and grinned, then grabbed his neck. "I suggest you leave," he said, then released the struggling hoodrat. He could honestly say that he'd never seen people run that fast. He laughed a bit then turned towards the kid on the ground in the fetal position. Rory knelt down to him and began to help him up.

"Th-thanks," he managed to get out. He was in pretty bad shape from what Rory could tell.

"Don't mention it," Rory replied, holding the boy's right arm over his shoulder and keeping his other arm around the boy's waist. "Let's get you to a hospital."

"No…no hospitals."

"Then would you care to enlighten me as to where else I could take you?"

"Just n-no…hospitals."

"Okay then," Rory said, deciding to just take him to the institute, "So what's your name?"

"John."

"Well, I'm Rory,"

The rest of the way to his car was silent. John doubled over in pain when he was sitting, "_Probably some broken ribs,_" thought Rory. He put his seat in full recline to take the pressure off of his torso. He looked like he had been living off of the streets for a while by the way his clothes looked where they weren't stained by blood.

They were almost there when John spoke up again. "Where are you taking me?"

"The best alternative to a hospital that I know of," Rory answered. "So why were those guys beating the crap out of you?"

"They wanted my lighter," the blond answered, pulling a zippo out of his pocket.

"That's a lot of damage to dish out just for a zippo," Rory stated, not really buying the answer.

"Well, when you have a mouth like mine it's kinda hard to stay out of trouble," he looked around the car, "Quite a ride you've got here, what's a rich kid like you doing helping someone like me out?"

"Rich as I might be, I don't have a conscience that's contracted pneumonia…mine's still alive and kickin'."

"No doubt the tomorrow's headlines 'll read 'Spoiled Rich Fuck Saves the Ass of Random Stranger."

"Nah, my family's gotten too much headlines as it is. It's hard already…trying to stay out of the spotlight…especially when you're related to the man that invented 'the cure'."

That seemed to get John's attention, "You're related to that mother-fucker?!"

"Yeah," Rory replied, getting somewhat serious, "he's my uncle." He paused for a moment, "So why do you hate him?"

John didn't reply for a few moments, "That 'cure' is the worst thing that's ever happened to me."

"…I'm sorry to hear that."

Rory pressed the button to open the gate and drove through. When he parked the car he got out and went around to open John's door. As he helped him out of the car, John took a look at his surroundings and seemed to get panicked rather quickly, "Where are we?! I can't be here!" he shoved away from Rory then fell to the ground.

"Hey, just calm down!" he knelt beside him, trying to lift him up, "You didn't want to be taken to a hospital, so I took you here. What's the big deal?"

He pushed away from him again, "I just can't be here, I'd rather be at the hospital." He tried to get up, but collapsed to the ground again.

Rory was starting to get agitated, "Well I'm not leaving, especially when we just got here! So deal. Besides, you're in no condition to go anywhere on your own." He finished, kneeling down to pick up John once again.

John cooperated this time, though somewhat begrudgingly, "Just don't be surprised if I'm not accepted here."

"If anyone tries anything then they'll have me to deal with."

He walked John up to the front door and opened it, not surprised to see the Professor standing there. "Let's get him to the infirmary," was all that he said as he took John's other arm. When they got to the lower-levels Ororo was walking by but stopped suddenly.

"Professor?!" she gave him a shocked and confused look.

"I'm sure that Rory will explain later Storm, but for now could you get hand to look after this young man?"

After they hooked John up in a bed, and many glances from Beast and Storm to the Professor, they left Beast to tend to him.

"I don't agree with this Professor." Storm said matter-of-factly.

"Agree with what, he was hurt and didn't want to go to a hospital, so I took him here. What's the big deal anyways?!" Rory half-yelled, tired of them acting like he just brought the plague.

"He didn't want to go to a hospital because they would have sent him to prison!" Ororo spat.

"What. Why?!"

"Do you know who that is in there Rory, how dangerous of a mutant he is?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's a guy who was getting ganged up on by three thugs, and for your information he got the cure."

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're such a caring person," she started, "but for _your_ information, that kid's name is John Allerdyce. He's one of the mutants that attacked Alcatraz six months ago trying to kill your uncle!"

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**Okie dokie. Thus wraps up the second chapter. Please excuse the lack of detail in some parts, I plan on making this into a fan-comic, so when that happens the detail is described through the pictures. But yeah, I just had to get Pyro in the story, if I didn't then I'd start procrastinating too much ; Remember what I said about the 'mutant soap opera on crack' too...some of it will be very 'cheesy drama' heavy.  
**


	3. There's A Time in Every Boy's Life

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING…except for Rory, everything else is property of Marvel and Fox. So please don't sue me!!! .;;**

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Chapter 3 – There's A Time in Every Boy's Life…

Rory couldn't believe what he heard. On one hand, he really didn't care what John, or 'Pyro' as it was explained to him, had done…but on the other, this was one of the guys that had tried to kill his uncle. He had headed out back to think after the Professor explained just who John was to him in detail. He liked it out here. Something about it calmed him down, like the air out here was on the same wavelength as him. It had been three days since he showed up with John, and the boy had been sleeping the entire time…well…thanks to the sedation that Beast gave him.

He walked over to the grave of Jean Grey and stood in front of it. He hadn't gotten any little messages from that 'Phoenix' person since the fight in Emma's office…and the entire school had been avoiding him like the plague, which he really didn't mind.

Casually, he rubbed out his cigarette on the bottom of his shoe and put the butt in his pocket. He walked inside and headed towards the elevators that went to the lower-levels. Once there he headed into the infirmary. He saw Beast when he stepped out, "Hey Dr. McCoy."

"Hi there Rory. If you're coming down here to see John you're in luck, the little shit just woke up."

"Not particularly…but I would like to talk to him." He stated.

"Well, be my guest then."

Rory quirked an eyebrow. He wasn't used to Dr. McCoy being ineloquent with his words. Then again, with all that he'd heard about John, he wasn't surprised. He said bye to Beast then walked into the room that held the former fire-weilder.

"Who is it," John asked, unable to look as he was in restraints.

"It's me, Rory."

"At least it's someone who isn't going to try and kill me."

"From everything they've told me about you I don't see why I shouldn't," Rory said with some sharpness to his voice.

"Heh. So the X-Maggots told you, huh?"

"You really thought they wouldn't? Shit, had I known you were that inept I would've left you to get your ass kicked even more."

"Right, like a fuckin' boy-scout like you could've been able to handle the strain of a guilty conscience."

"Coming from a used-to-be Class four mutant who couldn't even murder a normal human…I'll try to take that as a compliment."

John's fists tightened, "I don't need powers to beat the shit out of a spoiled little bitch like you!"

"Maybe, maybe not. But you do need the key to those restraints. So tell me, why are you so scared to go to jail…when being a normal human is much more of a hell for someone like you?" he leaned over John as he finished the sentence.

"Now look at who the dumbass is. Do you really think that I'd survive in jail with all that I've done?"

"No, I think that you'd survive…but you'd be the size of a doorway when all the inmates got finished with you. So how many did you get stuck with?"

"What?"

"How many doses did you get stuck by?"

John sighed, "Five."

"Well, you've still got a bit to wait then."

"The fuck are you talking about?"

Rory straightened up and walked around him, "We found out four months ago that the cure was only temporary."

"How?" he seemed a bit anxious.

"Let's just say that Bobby was in the infirmary for almost being sucked dry."

That brought a grin to his face, "He deserved it, the fuckin bastard. So how much longer would you say I've got till my powers are back?"

Rory was about to answer but turned to see the Professor standing at the doorway with…Emma. "The hell are you doing here Emma?"

"_We_ came to give some good news."

"I'm all ears."

"Well Rory," the professor started, "it seems that your friend Emma here has pulled some strings and gotten Mr. Allerdyce here a pardon," he finished, giving her a sour look.

"What?!" John barked.

"And," Emma chimed in, "he is to be placed in my custody."

"Excuse me?" Rory asked.

"The only way that I could get him a pardon, was to take him under my custody. If he shows that he has improved upon regaining his powers…then he can enter society again. The other option, should he not improve socially, is obvious."

"He is to reside here until he has fully recuperated, and afterwards, he will go into Ms. Frost's care." The professor explained. "While he is here, _you_ are to watch over him, Mr. O'Donnel."

"Professor," Rory almost screamed, "no way! This guy tried to kill my uncle!"

"Yes, he did. So just think of this as a way to further your training in keeping your emotions in check."

Rory looked down at John, confused as all hell. He received the same look in return. The young mutant looked over at Emma…he didn't know how…but he knew that there was more to this than was presented. He felt a small, almost massaging, sensation at the back of his head…similar to the one that came when the Phoenix was talking to him. Something clicked…a telepath. Rory looked at the professor, _"Do you need something?"_

The professor looked at him with a small furrow in his brow, _"You may want to ask your friend Emma that question…"_

With a confused look he looked over at Emma, "_Yeah, there's something that I've been keeping from you…"_ she gave him a wry smile.

"God damnit," he sighed. "And just when the hell were you going to tell me?"

"When you needed to know, and no sooner," she cocked her head to the side and gave him that 'queen shit' look.

"You know," he started, "for someone who says that they're your best friend, you sure as hell do keep a lot of secrets from me."

"I have a personal life too ya know."

"I'll keep that in mind the next time you ask me something," Rory said with a small amount of spite in his voice 'accidentally' slipping through.

"Well, if we're done here, Emma," he turned to her, "I'd like to have a word with you in my office."

"Of course Charles," she followed him out of the infirmary, "you two play nice now!" she said behind her.

The door closed and Rory and John looked at each other. Rory walked over to a wall and grabbed a set of keys off of it, then walked over to the bed that John was in. Before he put the key in he leaned over John, "Listen, I don't like this anymore than you do…and just know, that if you try anything that I deem suspicious, I've got no problem kicking the living shit out of you." The pure viciousness dripping in his voice was enough to subdue the former Pyro, who nodded in response. Rory unlocked all of the restraints and John sat up.

"So, what do you do here?" he asked, "You sure as hell aren't a student."

"I help Ororo teach the younger mutants how to control their emotions, and train them to use their powers." Rory replied while walking back to put the keys up.

"Heh, that must be fun."

"Not when the entire student body thinks that I hate them for being mutants."

"Why the fuck would they think that?"

"Well for starters I don't use my powers, I'm a general asshole to everyone, and I'm a member of the Worthington family." He listed on his fingers while walking back to John.

"So, everyone thinks that you're out to cure them…dipshits."

"Amazing, you got it on the first try," Rory mocked surprise, "maybe you're not such a dipshit afterall."

John looked up at him with a glare, but it faded when he saw the smartass grin on Rory's face. "Well," Rory started again, "let's get your gimp-ass upstairs to take a shower…you wreak."

John slowly put his feet on the ground and attempted to stand, 'attempted' being the key word. Rory sighed and leaned down, throwing John's right arm over his shoulder. He hauled the boy up ad they made their way out the door.

"You're not worried of what people will think if they see you with me?"

"Eh, they hate me as it is...so it's not like I'm gonna loose their respect." Rory explained, pressing the button for the elevator.

"Heh, you know, you might not be as self-righteous as I thought." John smiled.

The elevator dinged and slid open it's doors. Rory stepped out with John in tow and began making the trek to Rory's room. As expected, glares were coming from almost every direction. Rory was just glad that Warren wasn't here…he wouldn't hear the end of it.

From in front of them Bobby came marching around a corner, "What the hell are you thinking Rory! Bringing trash like him inside this school!"

"Shove it you overgrown snowflake." Rory spat as he continued past Bobby.

"Just what damn side are you on anyways!?" he yelled behind them, "First that little incident three days ago and now this! Why don't you just go join the brotherhood, you'd fit in more there!"

That made Rory stop. He turned around and sent daggers at Bobby. "From what I understand," he narrowed his eyes, "so did Jean." He turned and began walking again.

John spoke up in a whisper, "Didn't know you could be that much of a dick."

"…_instinct…"_ came the voice once again.

From behind came the sound of solidifying ice and footsteps. Rory quickly leaned John on a nearby pillar and jumped to the side, dodging Iceman's punch. He felt pressure building below him as he turned to see the human icicle coming at him again. In one swift move he jumped up from the ground, flipping backwards, and kicking Bobby square in the jaw. Rory landed just as Bobby did and walked over to him. He crouched down and picked the Iceman up by the shirt, bringing his face right next to his. Saying nothing, he let his eyes speak to the downed X-Man. The reply was a look of shock and fear.

After a few moments Rory let him go and went back to helping John. As Rory led him up the stairs Bobby stood up, still in shock from what just happened. He turned back to normal and felt a draft on his back. Looking down, he saw a puddle of water. He checked the back of his shirt and found a perfect circle missing from it. Bobby looked back up to Rory and John…but the only image in his head was that of eyes filled with anger…and blue fire surrounding them.

The rest of the way to the room was spent in silence, as Rory was too busy calming down to talk. As they entered, Rory sat John down on the bed and plopped down beside him. John spoke up first, "What the hell was that?"

"Me making a fool out of just that, what'd it look like."

"Not that," Rory stood up as John continued talking, "when you picked him up. You," he paused for a moment, "It was scary."

Rory turned to him with a confused look, "What'cha mean?" then walked into the closet and began looking for clothes. "It's not like I'm a person to be feared."

John thought back on the moment. Bobby only saw Rory's eyes…he had seen everything else. Something about it had reminded him of Dr. Grey. "N-nothing I guess." Rory seemed to accept the answer.

"Well, ice cubes aside," he walked back from the closet with clothes and a towel, "You need to get your ass in the shower before you stink up my bed." He handed the parcel out to John. "You'll excuse me if I don't help you out with this part."

John gave him a 'fuck you' look and slowly made his way into the bathroom and shut the door. He filled up the tub with hot water and soaked for about half an hour. Once he was done cleaning he stepped out and dried off. Pyro looked at the clothes that Rory had given him and found a pair of boxers. After sliding into them he looked at himself in the mirror. What once had been a muscular fit body, was now almost skin and bones. He could see his ribs and hip-bones protruding slightly…showing how malnourished he was. He sighed and pulled on the pants, which hung low on his waist.

"Glad to see you didn't drown," Rory said, standing in the doorway, "I have enough problems as it is without the student body thinking I'm a murderer."

"That's why I exist though," John replied, "to be a problem." He gave Rory a smirk.

"Ah, he has wit as well," Rory grinned back, "finish getting dressed, I have a surprise visitor for you."

John gave him a questioning look, "And just who the hell in this place would want to visit _me_?"

The door to the bathroom opened the rest of the way as someone hit it. A now revealed Logan stood there with his arms crossed. John nearly shit himself as he tried to back away, but met the floor instead.

"What the fuck is he doing here!?"

"Well John," he gave Logan a wry grin, "since you're still healing, you need to exercise your body…it'll help you heal faster. For this, I've acquired the help of Logan, I do believe you remember him?"

Logan grinned at him and he gave a helpless look, "I'd rather be in prison!" he whimpered.

"Well, take it easy John. With the condition that you're in right now, exercising would only increase the problem. You still need to heal for a while."

"H-how long is a while," his eyes were pleading with Rory.

Logan finally spoke, "Three days."

His eyes widened like he had just been told the exact time of his death, which in his mind had just happened.

"Alrighty then! With that done," he turned to Logan, "see you at three Saturday afternoon?"

Logan continued to stare at John, "Can't wait." Was all he said before he walked out of the room.

"So," Rory said, snapping John out of his visions of death, "let's get you something to eat."

Rory helped John down to the Kitchen, almost everyone either avoiding them or leaving their presence altogether. When they made their way back up to the room another bed had been put in for John. Rory got into his own as John put his head onto the pillow, almost instantly asleep.

"_Go figure, I try to separate myself from everyone…and the professor makes me take care of someone…a bad someone at that." _ He thought to himself.

"…_he put you in a box…"_

"_The hell?"_

"…_hidden away in the corner of your mind…"_

"_Okay, I know you can be cryptic, but fuck."_

"…_everyday…more locks are put on…"_

"_What the hell are you talking about?"_

"…_distrust…past mistakes not learned from…" _A bird of fire appeared above Rory, gently floating.

"…_Who are you?"_

"…_I'm the one who's going to make sure that those mistakes aren't made again…" _the bird flapped it's wings and dove down into Rory.

The young heir shot up in bed, sweating and breathing heavily. It was just a dream. He looked over at John sleeping in the bed across the room and stood up, heading into the bathroom. As he looked at himself in the mirror he felt his entire body tingling with different sensations all over. Some felt as if they were throbbing, others felt warm…as if close to a fire. Rory paused for a moment as he felt one of the sensations moving across his arm. He stood there and blinked for a moment…_"What the hell is happening to me?"_ The moving sensation grew stronger as he heard someone walking over to the door. After a few moments of nothing happening he heard the person moving away…but not towards a bed. The sensation decreased as well.

Rory walked over to the doorway and opened the door, "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

John stopped dead in his tracks and looked over at him, "N-nothing…just going to get something to eat."

"Well then I'll go with you," he walked over to him, the sensation grew stronger again.

They walked out the door and down the hallway, sensations coming and going as they passed the various rooms, "_What the hell did you do to me…" _

As they went downstairs and were passing the back-doors, Rory stopped suddenly and grabbed John's arm. The torch to Jean's grave regained it's fire as he turned to see what this new sensation was.

"The hell is that?" John asked, not knowing.

Rory continued walking, "Jean's grave."

John slowly started walking towards the fire…as if being called to it. A few moments had passed when Rory realized that John was no longer near him. He turned to see John opening the doors that led to the back grounds of the institute. "John…" He received no response. "John?" his eyes widened when he saw the flame grow larger, John reaching out to it.

Something about this wasn't right, his powers shouldn't be returning this soon. Suddenly he felt it, the deafening sensation of almost raw power. And it wasn't coming from John.

"JOHN!" he screamed, finally snapping the other boy out of his trance.

John turned to see Rory running towards him. He gave him a questioning look then became aware of the heat radiating from in front of him. As he turned back he saw wings extend from the mass of flame that was billowing. The fire formed into a bird again…but this time held no look of benevolence…only anger. Forgetting his situation, he desperately tried to calm the flames before him. The phoenix flapped it's wings and flew into the sky, circling around and heading towards him, going into a dive. John clenched his eyes shut, awaiting the inevitable. He flinched as he heard a collision, and the heat from the fire hitting his skin. He opened his eyes, wondering why there was no pain, and saw Rory standing in front of him…straining to keep the bird at bay.

Callisto ran into the center room of Magneto's hideout, "Magneto!"

An old withered man looked up at her, "Yes my dear…what seems to be your urgency?"

"I just felt a mutant signature…it's her. It's nowhere near what it was at…but I know it's her."

Eric's eyes widened, this was news indeed, "Is that so?" he turned in his chair and thought for a moment.

"Magneto…there was also another one right near it…of the same wavelength."

He turned back to her, his eyes narrowed, "Where?"

"From what I can tell…Xavier's"

He stood, "Well my dear, I'd say that it's about time we gave my old friend a visit."

Rory began to feel weak, the strain of restraining the phoenix was almost more than he could handle. He looked into the eyes of the bird, only inches away from his face. _"Trying to kill a normal human…you must be pretty pathetic!"_

The eyes of fire glared lifelessly into Rory's, _"…pathetic…to be scared…to not face up to what you are…"_

His eyes gave birth to fire again, and his body seemed to regain strength. The bird's fire began to enter his body…and within moments…was gone. Both John and Rory stood there in silence…the only thing making noise was the soft billowing of the torch in the wind.

Rory turned to John, "I'm going back to bed…leave if you want," and with that he left him standing there, still in shock as to what had just happened.

John was bewildered. No one had ever saved his life before. In all of his twenty years of living…almost no one had even given enough of a shit to stand up to him. Rory had done both. He didn't know what to think. Especially about what had just happened. The kid was willing to simply just let him leave.

"What are you doing John?" came a voice from behind him.

John turned to see beast standing with his hands in his pockets, "I bet you think I did that…don't you old man?"

Dr. McCoy shook his head, "No. I saw everything," he explained simply, "What I'm asking you is what you're doing."

John turned back to face the fire, "No one's ever saved my life before. And he's one of the people who would actually have the right to just stand back and watch."

"There are still good people in the world John," he stated as he walked and stood beside the younger mutant, "And though some have left us, others still manage to find ways to show themselves. Be it by kindness…or charity. It's sad to say that there are fewer of them than there are mutants."

"But why?"

"Because," he explained, "it's what's in their hearts. It doesn't matter if they're of high society, where they're pampered and given everything they need…or if they're from the slums, where people are lucky to have enough food to make it through the week," he explained further, "it's simply something that people have to realize, and grow into."

John looked down at his feet, "I didn't deserve it though."

Hank cocked an eyebrow at the boy, "Sounds like you're beginning to grow yourself," he put a hand on John's shoulder, "We can't atone for the mistakes we made in the past John…instead we must learn from them, and hope to use that knowledge to make a better future."

With that Beast walked back into the institute, leaving John to digest his words. He simply hoped that they wouldn't come back up.

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**Well, third chapter up and running. Not much to say really. the Phoenix is still being cryptic (as I figure 'dead' people should be) and seems to have something in store for Rory. Whatcha think?**


	4. Surfacing

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING…except for Rory, everything else is property of Marvel and Fox. So please don't sue me!!! .;;**

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Chapter 4 – Surfacing

Rory was surprised to find John in his bed when he woke up in the morning. The young mutant went and took a shower then got dressed. He smirked as he walked over to the boy's bed and gave him a nudge. A groan came in reply. He nudged him harder, "Time to wake up John, class is in less than an hour."

"Why the fuck do I need to worry about class?" he mumbled, pulling the sheets in tighter around himself.

"Because," Rory yanked the sheets off of him, "you were put in my care, and therefore you don't get to leave my side."

John recoiled at the sudden rush of cool air across his exposed body. He slowly got out of bed, occasionally muttering obscenities towards Rory. The blond hobbled into the shower, only to return ten minutes later with a towel around his waist. "What am I supposed to do about clothes?" he asked.

"Just use mine, there should be more than enough for both of us," Rory answered from his bed, not even bothering to look up from his laptop, "the underwear is in the top drawer of the dresser by the way," he added, taking a moment to point to the location.

John got the appropriate pieces of clothing then turned to Rory, "Shall I change in front of you, since I can't leave your side…or can I petition for a small amount of privacy oh master?" he did a mock bow as he finished the sentence, flinching as he forgot about his ribs.

"Just get dressed, smartass," Rory smirked and rolled his eyes.

John returned to the bathroom and came out a few minutes later, fully clothed. "You ready?" Rory asked.

"No."

"Tough shit, come on," Rory replied, standing up and escorting John out the door. The entire time they were walking to the classroom, the sensation was there…along with several others. Rory needed to talk to someone about this.

It was a quick walk, as everyone was avoiding them, especially Bobby, who made it a point to walk as far away as he could get. They got there around eight fifty-five, and most of the class was already there. "Morning Ororo," Rory said.

"Good morning Rory," she smiled at him, "John," she said, barely acknowledging his presence.

John opted to stand in a back-corner of the classroom, not wanting to get involved in anything he didn't have to. Rory stood at the front of the class with Storm, waiting for the bell to ring.

After it did, and everyone settled down, Ororo picked up the class' homework from the previous night and went back up to the front of the class. "So," she started, "Yesterday we went back over the classifications of mutants, as well as the various powers that have been documented. I trust that you all took notes?" she went over the class as they all nodded, "Good, with that said and done, we can get started on today's lesson. Rory?" she offered.

"Okay, as you all know, our powers grow as we do. Strengthening over time until they peak around the age of thirty," he paused while they took notes, "however, during times of intense emotion, it has been shown that we can tap further into them, enabling ourselves to perform feats that wouldn't have been able to have been done until many years later. This is why we must exercise our powers with control, because if we don't, the consequences have been known to be disastrous, ranging from major fatigue, comatose, and even death. And with some mutants, their powers have been known to completely take over, almost like a second personality." He took a longer pause as they took notes.

After they finished Ororo took over, "This, class, is where the hands on part of the class begins. If you would all follow me to the back-grounds, we can get started out there."

The class stood up and slowly shuffled out the door, following Storm. Rory held back so that John wouldn't feel left out. They followed the class onto the back-grounds, then walked over to the small lake that was out there. As Rory and John walked past Jean's grave, the phoenix gave him a visit again.

"_The first lock is gone now…"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Last night…it was the only way…"_

"_I'm starting to get tired of this…"_

"_I won't let him make the same mistake again Rory…"_

"_Let WHO make the same mistake?"_

"_I'm going to need your help with unlocking the second…_

"_What do you mean, unlocking the second?"_

No reply came. He could no longer feel her presence in his head. Rory suddenly felt like something bad was going to happen…and soon.

"You okay?" John asked.

He shook it off, "Yeah, why?"

"You just seemed to get a distant look…like telepaths do when they're communicating mentally."

Rory seemed to think for a moment, "Do you think that a powerful enough mutant could find a way to cheat death?"

"What?" John had a worried look on his face, he was scared to think of what Rory was talking about.

"I thought so," Rory said, seeing the expression on John's face, "Listen, John, I don't think that Jean's dead."

"W-why do you think that?" he asked, the fear showing in his voice.

"The incident last night should be proof enough, but I'll go into further detail later…I just wanted to know that I wasn't crazy for thinking it." Rory gave him a gentle smile.

They finished their walk to the lake, joining the rest of the class. The session was quite interesting to say the least. They helped the kids train their powers, starting on a basic level for the time being. Other than a few kids trying to over-exert themselves and passing out…it went quite well.

John and Rory walked back into the institute, Rory leading him down to the lower-levels. "So where are we going now?"

"Training session with Logan," the redhead answered simply.

"WHAT!? That's not for another three days though!" John barked.

"Oh hush, Storm, Beast and the Professor are going to be there too…it's for me."

The elevator dinged and the doors opened, showing the metallic walls. They headed over towards the Danger Room, meeting Logan outside.

"So, you sure you're ready for this kid?" Logan asked.

"Is anyone ever truly ready Logan?" Rory smirked back.

"Fair enough," he turned to John, "You'll be with the Professor and Storm in the control room, and no funny business."

John simply nodded.

Storm walked up behind them, "I'm here, you guys ready?" They both nodded, "Okay then, let's get going."

John trailed behind her up to the control room as Rory and Logan walked into the large spherical room where beast was warming up. A voice came up over the intercom, "Rory, I'm going to start you off on the lowest level, then you'll work your way up from there."

Rory turned away and faced the room, "_Just start it."_

The trio waited a few moments as the holograms came up, showing a dark alley. It was a pretty basic test, people would come out of no-where and attack them, and they would have to subdue them without 'killing' them.

Rory was doing quite well, until the difficulty was upped, and more people started appearing. He began to have trouble keeping them off of him.

"Rory!" Beast yelled to him, throwing a person off of him, "this test is for your powers! Not how well you can fight!"

Rory's diverted attention was just enough for one of the holograms to get the upper-hand, as a fist landed on Rory's gut, making him fall to his knees. He gasped for breath as a hand collided with the back of his head, causing him to fall flat. He blacked out after that.

"_Rory…"_

"_What happened?"_ he was standing in complete darkness, the phoenix before him…and a box with two locks on it just below.

"_I took you here, Rory…"_

"_Okay, but where's 'here'?"_

"_This is the backmost part of your mind…"_

Rory looked at the box, _"Is that what you keep talking about?"_

"_Yes, this is the part of you that he locked away…the part that he is scared of…"_

From above he heard Beast and Logan fighting, screaming at the professor in the control room, but he couldn't make out what they were saying, _"Why are they still fighting…why is the simulation still running?"_

"_Because I'm controlling it for now…"_

"_What if they die!?"_

"_They won't…Logan will be sure of that…"_

He looked up at the bird-of-fire, _"You're Jean…aren't you?"_

"_Yes, my conscience survives, though my body has died…but that will all change soon…with your help…"_

"_Why me though?"_

"_Because…you and I are alike in many ways…and I refuse to see the same thing happen to you…that happened to me…"_

"_And you're going to do that by opening this little box for me?"_

"_Yes, but I can only unlock it…you have to be the one to open it…"_

He looked at the second lock on the box, she spoke true, it was unlocked, _"What will happen when I open it?"_

"_That, my friend, is up to you…"_

He walked over to it and knelt down, placing his hands on the side corners, _"Before I do…can I see the way you really look?"_

The fire spun in around itself and dissipated, revealing the true Jean Grey, smiling down at him, _"You're beautiful."_

She floated down to the ground and stood before him, _"I've done many ugly things that I can never make up for Rory,"_ she walked over to him as he slid the lock off of the box, _"I just pray that this will make up for part of it,"_ with her final words the wrapped her arms around him, and her memories flooded his mind. Memories of when the phoenix took over her mind, and went on a rampage at Alcatraz…the memory of her seeing Scott for the first time after her death, then killing him…and the memory of her showing her true power in front of Xavier, right before she destroyed his entire body.

Rory's eyes snapped open. He saw beast and Logan standing over him, still yelling at the Professor to turn off the simulation. They fought to keep the holograms off of him, but that wasn't enough. The simulation switched to the next level. He stood up, Jean's memories still playing in his mind. It was then that his senses rushed back to him…along with the sensations. He could feel Beast and Logan fighting in front of him, and he could feel the holograms rushing towards him from behind. He turned his head, looking at the heartless bodied clamoring towards him, the vision of the Phoenix at Alcatraz…utterly destroying anyone her powers would reach came to the front of his mind. He could hear Jean in her own mind, screaming for everything to stop, yet unable to do anything but watch the horror that her powers were reigning down upon her friends. And for that moment…Jean's sorrow during that event, became his anger…and his eyes lit with fire… "I'll never let that happen," he spoke, barely in a whisper.

Back in the control room, the three occupants were in a panic.

"What's going on?!" Storm yelled, "why can't we stop it?!"

"I don't know, something isn't letting me!" the professor hastily answered.

"What's that?" John asked, pointing out the window.

The Professor and Storm looked to where he was pointing, and the Professor's eyes widened, "Jean…" he whispered.

Storm looked at him with worried confusion, then turned back to the scene before them. Rory had gotten back up, and his eyes were glowing. If those had been real people, they would have never seen what was coming.

Rory waited until they were almost on him, then threw his elbows into the noses of the two directly behind him. He used the force from this to roll backwards, on top of them…landing his knees on the shoulders of one of the many holograms, then threw his weight forwards and flipped it into the air. He rolled to his knees and turned to face them, and on instinct, threw a rock into the air and jumped. Gathering pressure in his right foot, he kicked the rock towards the group, which tore through them as if fired out of a cannon. He landed and looked at Logan and Beast, both of whom were staring at him, with their mouths open.

The simulation ended within moments, as Storm and John met the three of them on the ground. Rory said nothing as he walked over to Beast, "I need to talk to you later."

Beast nodded, "I agree, meet me in the infirmary at nine tonight," he spoke in a hushed whisper.

"Rory, what were you doing, there was to be no killing!" Storm barked at him.

"If I hadn't done that, then what would the simulation have done?"

She remained silent as the Professor walked up to the group, "I want all of you in my office, now." He walked out of the Danger Room.

As they all piled into the Professor's office, they could feel the tension building. The professor sat there, his brow furrowed staring at Rory. Bobby was standing next to him.

"Rory, I don't know if you know this, but I'm not very tolerant of students fighting in my school." He stated in a serious tone.

"Why don't you ask him why it started then?" Rory retorted, motioning to Bobby.

"Rory, your powers are dangerous, it's of utmost importance that you exercise control!"

"And what I did during that simulation wasn't control?!" he was starting to get tired of this already, "Just why won't you tell me about them anyways?"

"That is not of your concern," the professor stated, his voice rising, "One more occurrence like what happened before, or one more fight…and you're expelled. Do you understand?"

Rory couldn't help but glare at the man. So this was the true side of the great Charles Xavier. He stood up and walked out of the room, motioning for John to follow.

They went back up to his room, where he got on the phone with Emma.

"Rory, what can I do you for?"

"No bullshit this time Emma," his voice was livid, "Why the fuck do you want me to join Hellfire?"

There was a long sigh on the other end, "So we're going on this tangent again."

"Just answer the damn question Emma."

"Fine. We need someone in the middleground, who can keep us informed of what's going on with the Xavier institute."

"So you don't trust Xavier, is that it?"

"You could put it that way."

"I'll think about it," he said, right before he hung up.

Beast stood in front of Jean's grave, the fire on the torch dancing slowly in the wind. "_What do you have in store for us my dear…what are you planning?"_

The fire gave a quick burst of movement.

"_You're there, aren't you Jean?"_

"_Yes Hank. I'm sorry for any commotion that I have been causing. But I fear that the mistake that was made with me, is going to be made again."_

"_It is in the Professor's nature to be cautious Jean."_

"_His being cautious, however, has made him paranoid and foolish…it saddens me to say that I may have helped that."_

"_You're making sure that it won't happen again…aren't you?"_

"_I can't make right what I have done…but I can help with making sure that it doesn't happen again."_

"_I know that none of us can stop you…but I trust that you are doing the right thing."_

"_Thank you Hank. You've always been the most reasonable out of our little bunch."_

With that she left him…and he couldn't help but shed a tear.

Nine couldn't come too soon. Rory hadn't managed to stay still for five minutes…which was quite awkward since he choose to confine himself to his room. John had to almost yell to get Rory's attention, as the music in the room was drowning out any other sound.

As Rory marched down to the infirmary, John could hardly keep up by just walking, "You okay dude?"

Rory's scowl hadn't faltered since the 'conversation' with Xavier, "I will be after I talk to Beast."

Beast looked up at Rory as he walked in, John in tow, "Rory, glad to see you made it."

"Be more glad that I didn't tear anyone apart coming down here," he replied flatly, "Do you know why I asked you to come here?"

"Well," he saw that Rory was allowing no room for small talk, "first I'd assume that you want me to run tests on you to see what your mutation is. Second…well…I'll leave that up to you to tell, though I have a good idea what it is."

"You're right on the first one Hank. As for the second," he crossed his arms as he leaned on the examination table, "I know that you're intelligent enough to know that Jean isn't quite dead."

John got a nervous look on his face again as Beast put his hands in his pocket and nodded, "That I do. Which is why I agreed to do this. I believe that it's your right to know what you're capable of…otherwise you wouldn't be able to control it properly were you to loose control."

"Okay then, let's get started."

John watched from the side as Beast performed various tests, with various machines. After an hour of X-Rays, Catscans, and other procedures of the like, they finally took a break to look at the results so far.

A shirtless Rory sat up from the MRI machine and walked over to where Beast and John were looking at the x-rays. "So, what'cha got so far?" He noticed John give a quick look at his chest before turning his attention to the black and blue sheets.

"Well," Beast started, "There's nothing abnormal in the structure of your body," he continued while walking over to a computer, "but if you'll take a look at the results of the neural scanning," Rory complied, "you see how most of it is red?"

Rory nodded, "Yeah, but what does it tell me?"

"Well, the varying colors show just how many synapses are occurring in your brain…and I must say," he paused for a moment, "that I have never seen _anyone_ with the amount of synapses per second as you."

Rory paused for a moment to let the information he had just heard sink in, "So basically my brain runs faster than other peoples. Why don't I have telekinesis or telepathy then?"

"That's what I was wondering myself, so I ran a scan on your nervous system and found the same thing. Now, I have a theory as to what your powers are, but before I come to any conclusion I need to run a few more tests."

"Just tell me what to do."

"Okay, John?"

The blond looked up at him like he had just done something wrong, "Huh?"

"Go into that storage closet over there and grab the battery cables out of it for me."

Rory shot Beast a look of surprise as John did what he was told, "Battery cables?! This isn't going to hurt…right?"

"Well, if my theory is correct…no."

John returned with the requested item, "Glad I'm already in this room then," Rory added.

"Okay, now hold onto the metal of that end. John, I want you to connect the other end to the power cables in the back-up generator for the lab equipment over there."

John gave Rory an unsure look, but complied. He made his way over to the generator and slowly hooked them up. He turned back to see Rory frozen in electric shock.

"Rory, listen to me, focus on letting the electricity just flow through your body. Do this for me Rory."

Rory strained for a few more moments, then seemed to return to normal. "The hell?"

Beast smiled, "Okay, that proves part of it. John, go ahead and disconnect them."

After they were disconnected gave beast a curious look, "What was that Hank?"

"To explain simply, I believe that your powers have to do with energy. The reason that you have higher neural and nerve action is that your body can absorb energy, which I believe is stored in your nervous system. This would give plausible reason as to why you can learn and react so quickly."

"Okay, but what kind of energy?"

"Well, if my theory is correct, any kind. You see, when you kicked that rock at the holograms in the danger room, it was like you fired a canon. Even some of the strongest mutants can't put that much force behind a blow. To do something like that would require the ability to control – "

"Kinetic energy," he finished the sentence.

"Exactly. Here," he walked over to the table and picked up a beaker, "catch!" he shouted as he threw it straight at Rory.

Rory reacted in an instant, but not in the way he intended. The beaker stopped in mid-air right in front of his head, and simply seemed to float there…motionless. Rory stood there for a moment, then reached up and tapped it. In response, it shattered after falling to the ground. He gave a questioning look to Beast.

"Another example of control over kinetic energy. You reacted by absorbing all of it from the beaker before it hit you. And something with no kinetic energy will never move. When you tapped it, it gained kinetic energy again and gravity took over, as you had stopped absorbing."

"Okay, that answers that batch of questions. But recently I've been feeling these weird sensations, moving around my body…following the person that they're connected to."

"From what I've seen so far, it's probably your body sensing the kinetic energy around you, kind of like a sixth sense."

"While that's understandable, none of them feel the same though. I mean, yeah, they have that feeling behind them," he paused, looking for the right words, "but the other sensation is different with every person…and is extremely different with mutants."

Beast thought this new information over for a bit, but it was John that answered, "Well, every mutant has a different energy signature because of their unique mutation, right? Couldn't it be that?" he seemed to want to take back his words as Beast looked at him with a 'eureka' look.

"Your right John, that could be what it is. Rory, close your eyes and cover your ears. I want you to keep pointing to me as I move around the room."

Rory cooperated, and held out his hand to Beast before he closed his eyes. For a few moments he felt Beast remain where he was, then the sensation started moving. He moved his hand accordingly, going wherever Beast went. After a few minutes of doing this he felt Beast stop, and someone place a hand on his shoulder. Judging from the energy signature he could tell it was John. Rory opened his eyes only to see John's looking into his. They both didn't move for a bit until Beast spoke.

"Well, that was definitely informative. But there isn't much more I can tell you about your powers without alerting the entire school." He finished, giving him a look that said 'there's more' but held back on the information for fear of the possibility of certain psychics interloping.

"Nah, it's understandable," Rory replied, something had just clicked in his brain. The way that Beast had said that gave him all of the information that he needed, and put to rest all of the suspicions that he had. "I should probably get going though, I have to get up at six, and it's almost ten-thirty," he said, putting on his shirt.

"Indeed, I have a class early in the morning as well," Beast said to the both of them.

"Well, I'm off to bed," he stated, "gonna join me?" he asked John with a smirk.

They walked out of the infirmary and made their way upstairs. "That ended kind of abruptly. Think he held back on saying something?" John asked.

"Yeah."

"Well what do you think it was?"

"I've got some ideas, but just to make sure," he turned and began walking to the back-grounds…and Jean's grave.

"_Jean."_

"_I see that you've got some questions for me."_

"_How'd you guess?"_ he replied in a sarcastic tone, _"but I want John involved in this."_

"_No, you want me to give him an apology."_

"_That too."_

"_Well, he does deserve one."_

"_Damn straight he does."_

Jean entered John's mind and connected all three of them, _"John."_

He got a panicked look on his face, _"The fuck?!"_

"_Take it easy John, Jean connected all of us," _he said mentally as he put a hand on John's shoulder.

"_I'm sorry for attacking you John. I let my emotions get the best of me."_

"…_Okay…"_

"_Well, now that that's done, on to my questions. Out of everyone at this damned school, why'd you choose me?"_

"_You've already figured that one out Rory." _She replied.

"_Um…what's going on?" _John asked.

"_I was right about what Hank wouldn't tell me, that's what's going on."_

"_Yes. He didn't want to tell you the possible full-scale of your powers for fear that Charles was overhearing."_

"_I know the guy's an asshole, but why be paranoid, he can read our minds too."_

"_Yes, he can," _Rory took over, _"but today I noticed that the when the Professor was giving me that lecture, he didn't know about what happened last night. Also I didn't feel the all-familiar 'bump' that means a telepath is fucking with your head."_

"_Okay…"_

"_He couldn't read my mind John."_

"_He's right," _Jean entered the conversation again, _"I placed a mental block on Rory when I first spoke to him. I didn't want Charles poking into things like he always does. It also ensured that he wouldn't be able to put the locks back on."_

"_Locks? What locks?" _John got a confused look.

"_When Jean first came to this school, the professor locked most of her powers away in the back of her head. Over time, they came to develop their own conscience, which you remember as 'the Phoenix'. I'm sure that you remember what happened after those mental barriers finally broke down."_

John shuddered involuntarily at the memories.

"_It just so happens," _Rory started again, _"that the Professor was doing the same thing to me."_

"_Wait, what?"_

"_The professor locked me away because he thought that I wouldn't be able to handle my true power."_

"_Well, yeah, you're a Class…5…"_ he finished as he looked at Rory with shock.

Rory looked back at him, _"We still have one more lock to go until the psychic barrier in my head is gone. But…" _he looked at Jean's grave, _"you're not strong enough yet…are you Jean?"_

"_I'm happy to see that you figured it out."_

"_Figured what out?" _John asked.

"_The only way that Jean can get strong enough to unlock the last lock…is by absorbing the neural energy that I emit during talking to her. So, since you've helped me so much Jean…"_ Rory focused and opened his mind to her, letting his powers flow through the link.

John took a few steps back, his eyes widening at what he saw. The fire had once again taken on the form of a grand phoenix. Blue-fire burst to life around Rory, dancing around his body. He walked up to the phoenix and placed it's hand on it's head, and slowly, the energy around his body began to transform the fire of the bird. The two flames danced around each other until the phoenix became completely blue. The mighty bird flapped it's massive wings and threw it's head back, letting out a shattering screech. Windows shattered all around them, the glass slowly falling to the ground, their speed inhibited by Rory's absorption. As Rory sent more and more energy through the mental link, the phoenix grew larger and larger. He could feel himself begin to fade from the exertion of his powers.

John turned as he saw people begin to run out of the institute, notably the Professor and the rest of the X-Men. All of them stood there, unable to move out of shock. Bobby was the first to move, trying to get to Rory. He got thrown back as a wave of energy escaped from the young redhead. Afterwards he fell to his knees, exhausted. The phoenix turned to it's true vivid-red as Rory blacked out and fell over.

The crowd of teachers and students looked onwards in awe as the Phoenix flew into the air, then quick as lightning, dove into the grave of Jean Grey. For a moment, everything was quiet. The grave utterly destroyed, along with the tombstone. Slowly, the same red-fire began to creep out of the grave…and from within it…rose the corpse of Jean Grey.

No one made a sound as the decaying body began to move. Raising it's arms outwards, the fire crawled up it's body, forming a massive phoenix. She lowered herself to the ground and walked up to Rory, the decayed muscles and dried bones cracking as she walked. When she reached him she knealt down and pulled him to her. The phoenix wrapped it's wings around them, and moments later spread them again…revealing Rory and a restored Jean standing in front of each other.

"What about the third lock?" he asked.

"Gone," Jean replied, "you broke through it before you collapsed."

"You…you didn't – " he was interrupted by screaming from behind him.

"What the hell are you thinking!?" the professor bellowed, "I told you earlier that your powers are dangerous and now you've gone and done _this_!"

He turned and slowly faced the professor, "You know, one would expect you to be happy to see an old friend."

"That person is _not_ the little girl that I taught!"

"No, she isn't…because this is a person that you've never met. This is the real Jean, the way that she would have been had you not been so scared of her!" Rory said, malice showing in his voice.

"Even if that's true," the professor's voice was vile, "she must pay for what she did to so many innocent people!"

Jean stepped in now, "I'd say that keeping that from happening again was a good start Charles."

"What are you talking about?!"

Jean paused for a moment as she 'paused' all of the students, leaving only the X-Men to speak. "You should know Professor," Rory spat, "what with all of those mental locks that you put on my powers."

"Why'd you freeze the children?!" Storm asked.

"Because," Jean explained, "they don't need to know this, they look up to Charles, Ororo."

"What was I supposed to do? Just leave him to let his powers destroy him, or possibly one of my students?"

"You preach to the students about learning to use their powers with control…but when one comes along that's more powerful than you…you block them off. And since they would grow up not being able to become familiar with that amount of power," Rory explained, "then it's no wonder why Jean turned out the way that she did before!" he finished and walked over to John and helped him up.

Rory weaved his way through the unmoving crowd with John. As they approached the Professor he grabbed his arm, "There may be no way I can keep this from happening, but know this…just one slip…and I'll do anything in my power to make sure that it never happens again," the venom on his voice scratched at Rory's 'anger' nerve.

"Just be glad that I'm not like you professor…'cause you've already slipped up twice," as he finished he jerked his arm free from Xavier's grip and continued walking.

* * *

**Well, that does it for the fourth chapter. Jean's back...'cause even I can't keep her dead (I hate my muse). Rory finally cam into his powers. And Xavier's a prick. Yep. R&R pls **


	5. To Protect Those

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING…except for Rory, everything else is property of Marvel and Fox. So please don't sue me!!! .;;**

* * *

Chapter 5 – To Protect Those… 

Two weeks had passed since Jean had risen anew, and the school seemed to be taking it…well…as anyone else would take it when someone comes back from the dead. Jean had taken over teaching Rory how to use and control his powers. The professor kept a watchful eye on both of them, just as he said he would. Indeed, it was annoying…but they didn't really care either way, all of the other teachers and X-Men had came to welcome her back. Hell, Bobby had actually taken to speaking to Rory, albeit on a limited basis.

Up in their room Rory and John were getting ready for class with Ororo. "How're your ribs doing?"

John looked up to him after putting his shirt on, "Better…especially since the training sessions with Logan."

"Told ya he wouldn't kill ya," Rory added with a smirk.

"I wouldn't accept him killing me, he would have no reason behind it unlike other people here," he finished, giving Rory a look.

Rory sighed, he knew what the look was for, "John, how many times do I have to tell you, that's not going to happen."

"I'd still deserve it though."

"Even so, I'd rather keep you around. You're the first person that I've been able to completely get along with, even if we do fight on occasion," Rory explained, talking about the argument that they had gotten into four days prior…he couldn't even remember what it was about, "But those things aside, we need to get going."

John looked at his watch, "Oh shit," they were already three minutes late.

They walked out to the back-grounds and met Ororo out there. John took his normal spot under the shade of a tree. "About time you two got here," Ororo smiled at him.

"Heh, sorry about that," Rory gave John a quick glance then smiled back at her, she was giving him a knowing look, making him blush a bit.

She turned back to the class, "So, today we're going to go further into your powers, and the many different ways that you can use them. Now, you're going to have to use your imaginations for this, so keep your minds open."

"Okay," Rory took over, "now as you all know that the powers of every mutant are as diverse as each human…so are the ways that we can use them to accomplish different things. For instance, Jenny, could you stand up and come up here please?"

A young blond girl stood up and walked up to him, seeming somewhat unsure of herself.

"Hey, it's okay, there's no need to be nervous," she nodded and he continued, "Okay, what I want you to do is hit that rock over there with your powers," he said, pointing to a boulder about ten yards away.

"O-okay," she held her hand like she was holding a ball, where heat-waves started to form, then threw it at the rock. As it collided it left scorch marks.

"Good, now I want you to do the same thing, but this time without using your hands."

She looked up at him with a confused look, "What, how?"

"This is the part where you use your imagination, just try," he stated simply, "Just remember, it's okay if you don't get it first try, you're all still learning."

She gave him one last look as she turned back to the rock. For a few moments she stood there, then out of nowhere…spit. Sure enough, the rock got more scorch marks on it.

Rory raised an eyebrow, "Definitely unique, I must say. What made it come to your mind?"

"I just imagined that it was your uncle's face…"

Rory couldn't help but laugh, "Whatever works."

"Okay class," Storm took over again, "For the rest of the time we have, I want all of you to practice using your powers in different ways than you usually do. Now get started."

They all spread out, choosing different landmarks as targets. Rory and Ororo walked through them, observing how they were doing. Rory saw three students talking instead of training and he walked over to them, "You guys need to get to training, and stop talking."

They all turned to him, Rory wasn't surprised to see Doug in the group, "For your information we all have complete control over our powers, we don't need to train."

"Well until you can show me, then you three need to stop talking." His voice lit with authority and he walked away. Rory was around ten feet away when he felt the power build behind him and prepared to retaliate. It wasn't until he felt the power released in a different direction that he turned around…just in time to see John hit the tree and slump to the ground, "John!" he ran over to him as the trio laughed.

When he got to him he slid to the ground and grabbed hold of John's head, "Shit, come on John," he made sure that there was a pulse, that was good. Storm ran up behind him.

"Is he okay?"

"He's breathing, but he needs to get to the infirmary," he replied quickly.

"Okay, can you take him while I deal with those three?"

"Yeah," he picked him up and took him into the institute. Once Dr. McCoy had him in a bed he went back outside to the class. Something was different as he saw the crowd in the distance, he scanned the energy signatures, confirming what he thought. As he got closer the vivid-red of Jean's hair gleamed in the sunlight.

"What's going on?" he asked, walking up to Jean.

"Ororo asked me to join for the rest of the class."

He turned to the African woman, giving her a questioning look. She winked at him and turned back to the class, "Class, I can honestly say that I'm disappointed with what just happened. Not only did one of you use your powers to attack another person…you attacked someone who was powerless to stop it. The first thing that is taught at this school is to never use your powers on a human, unless your in mortal danger. Your powers do not make you 'better' than normal humans in any way," she paused for a moment, "For those of you who think that humans can be pushed around because we can do things that they can't, you're the reason that I invited Ms. Grey to attend the rest of this class. Jean." She handed control over.

Jean stepped forwards, and looked over the students, "I want all of you to divide into separate groups, based on what you figure your classification is…this is going to be a lesson on humility."

The class shuffled around, and after a few minutes five groups were formed. Jean and Storm both smirked as Rory glared at the ones that put themselves in the fifth group. _"Don't worry, this will be much more of a punishment for them than detention,"_ she said to him mentally, _"go into the third group when I ask."_

She turned to Rory, "Rory, I want you to part of this as well, could you go into the group that you belong in?"

He did what she asked and joined the group that almost half of the class had gone into.

"Okay," she started again, "So we have two class ones, five class twos, fourteen class threes, eight class fours, and," she paused for a moment, "_three_ class fives. Wow, mutants have come a long way since I died."

Rory laughed at the comment along with a few others.

"Now, one by one, I'm going to go through the groups, and I want each person in the group to step forwards and explain, in full detail; your name, your codename, what your mutation is, how it works, and how that makes you what class you are."

She walked down to the two that were in the 'class one' group and motioned for one of them to step forwards, "My name is Eric Michaels, codename Spectrum. My mutation is the ability to shift my eyesight up and down any spectrum of nature, whether it's infrared, color, or others like that. From what I understand my eyes change colors when I do this, but I only get the chance to see it in pictures. And honestly, I don't know how it works."

He stepped back as he finished and Jean continued to work her way down the line. Not many of them were able to state how their powers worked, and more than half hadn't chosen a codename yet. She got to Rory and he did what she asked, which wasn't hard anyways…he hated people knowing what he was capable of. Finally she made it the supposed class fives. While they were presenting themselves Rory could hardly manage to hold in the laughter. He broke a couple of times, which earned him glares from the trio of boys. He had realized what Jean was doing by the time she got the beginning of the class threes.

"Okay then," Jean said as she walked back to the front of all of them, "now that that's done, I'm going to go back over all of you, and I want _you guys_ to decide if that person chose the right class. Afterwards I'll tell you if you were right. This will tell me if you've learned just exactly what the classifications are, and how humble some of you are."

Rory had a broad smile on his face the entire time as she went over them again. Turned out that there weren't any class ones, only five class twos, with most of the class taking up the slot for class threes. She kept Rory where he was, and finally got up to the 'class fives'.

Doug stepped forwards first, "Now, this is where it gets complicated class, with everything that you've heard so far, what class do you think Doug is?"

Rory saw Doug glaring at everyone, daring them to say anything other than class five. He had noticed at the beginning that Doug was the bully of the bunch, and indeed, the class said what he wanted to hear. When she got to his two friends he went against them, saying that they were both threes…or at most fours. The class agreed.

"Well, the class is right on this one, you two are class threes." They both put on angry pouts, quite akin to three-year olds, and walked over to join the group of class threes. "You see class, it's important to know exactly what you're capable of. Because if you under-class yourself, then losing control of your powers could be dangerous in the fact that when your training your powers, they will never get exercised fully, which presents the possible problems that arose with myself.

"For those of you that over-classed yourselves, that's dangerous as well. Because if you ever had to fight for your lives, and tried to push yourselves too hard, then you could end up in a coma…or even die," she checked over the groups again and got a focused look on her face. "And just so that all of you know, it is possible that you will grow into being a higher class, but for where you are at the moment, this is it."

A younger girl, not even the age of twelve, in the front of the two group raised her hand, "Ms. Grey?"

"Yes Emily?"

"I thought that you were the only class five mutant." She asked innocently.

"Well, I was. But that wasn't going to last forever. I'm sure that as time progresses along with mutants there will be many more, but for now, there are only two."

"Ha! I knew I was a class five! You guys see this, this is what real power is!" Doug yelled from his lone position.

Jean smiled and turned to Rory, "Yes Rory, do you have something to say?"

The young red-head smiled and stepped forwards out of the group, from the side he heard Doug say 'faggot' and he decided to change things up a bit, _"May I?"_

"_With what I just heard…go right ahead."_

Without saying a word he walked over and stood by Jean, "Up until now, I've been secretive, underhanded, and a general asshole to everyone…so I'll come clean. I've been leading you all on. I don't want to see any of you 'cured', and I especially would rather not see any of you hurt. So I guess that it's a good thing that you have two class fives to watch out for you. I mean," he smirked, "you could have Doug over there as a protector…but in all honesty I think that that'd cause more harm than good."

The expression on Doug's face was priceless, "What, you don't think that I'm a class five?! Didn't you just hear Ms. Grey, she just said that I was a class five." He took a couple of steps towards him, trying to act menacing.

Rory nodded, "Yes, she did say that there were two class fives," he gave Doug a wry grin, "but she never said who the second one was."

"Oh don't give me that shit, you're just mad 'cause I kicked your boyfriend's ass in one hit, fag."

Rory got a deadly look on his face, which got a smirk from Doug, "No, kicking his ass would imply that you did something at least _somewhat_ impressive. Not to mention that he doesn't have any powers at the moment, so that part makes you a coward. Then there's the fact that all you did was knock him out…I'd say that even a small blast from a class five would at least break a few bones," Rory walked slowly to him as he talked, "and just in case you don't remember, Jean never said what you were, so if I were you I'd go to the class fours where you belong and get the fuck out of my spot."

The class gasped as Rory flew back a few feet from one of Doug's force blasts, "Keep talking shit pretty boy, I'll make a fool out of you right here."

Storm and Jean simply stood there, both of them wanting to see Doug put in his place. Rory laughed a bit then stood up, un-phased by the blast, Jean slowly walked over and stood in front of the class.

"So, do you want to see what real power is?" Rory asked as his eyes began to glow blue.

Doug threw another force blast at Rory, who let it hit him…throwing him back a few feet again. "Learn your place you fuckin fagot!" he said, throwing another force blast. This time though, it never hit.

The class let out another gasp as Rory slowly stood up, blue-fire dancing around his body. The lake began to churn and steam. Rocks began to float up all around them for a few dozen meters. Doug got a look of rage and built up the force in his hand, enough to kill a normal human instantly. _"Just don't kill him,_" he heard Jean say through his head.

Rory waited for Doug to launch the force blast, and effortlessly reached out his hand and caught it. The water stopped boiling and the rocks fell to the ground as Rory decided it was time to stop showing off. The blue-fire died away, and Rory stood there, still holding the ball of force. He walked around Doug until it was a direct shot from him, to Doug, to the group of class fours, "I think this is yours," Rory said, launching the ball of force back at the boy and sending him reeling to the front of the class fours.

"Well," Ororo said, "now that the cinematics are over, _you_" she grabbed Doug by the back of the neck, "are going to have a little chat with the Professor." She began walking him to the institute.

"Ya know, it's not about how much power you have, but how you use it to protect and care for those that need it," Rory said as Doug was drug past him.

"Class dismissed!" Storm yelled behind her. None of them moved. The simply stood there, staring at Rory. He saw all of their eyes on him and rolled his in return, "Jean, I'll see you tomorrow for training. If John wakes up soon tell him I'll be in the gym." And walked off.

He entered the gym and was greeted by the usual smell of dried sweat. The red-head walked over to a bench and took off his shirt, shoes and socks. Walking out into the middle of the matt he began to stretch, and after about fifteen minutes of warming up he started his actual training. He was Logan's favorite person to train with, as he showed up at the institute with full gymnastics training, and already knowing taekwondo and kickboxing. Logan had taught him boxing and, something from Logan's hidden past, Okinawan style martial arts.

As he started his workout he let his mind wander. He went over what had happened by the lake, how scared the students seemed by his display of power. Oh well, cat was out of the bag now. And just why the hell did he get so angry at Doug's comment about him and John? He's just his care-taker while John's at the institute, then it's off to Emma to join her fucking 'Hellions', as he had found out.

For half-an-hour he was lost in his thoughts training before he noticed the energy signature at the doorway. John. "You gonna come in?"

"I didn't wanna disturb you," he replied simply before taking a few steps into the gymnasium, "no wonder Logan likes to train with you…you're probably the only person in this institute that could kick his ass if it came down to skill alone."

"Yeah, well that'll never happen, it's not like he can turn off how strong he is."

"Yeah," there was an awkward silence.

"So…you okay?" Rory asked, going into an aerial spin kick, followed by a forward flip.

John took a moment to reply, "Huh? Oh, yeah. Other than a few bruises and my ribs hurting I'm fine," another moment of silence followed, "You know, you're the only person so far in my life that's ever given two shits about me…why do you do it?"

"Whad'ya mean?" Rory asked, walking over to the punching bag. He started working on his kickboxing.

"Well…why do you care?" John asked, slowly following Rory with his hands in his pockets.

"I dunno," he slammed the bag with a roundhouse, "guess it's just in my nature to."

"Yeah…I guess." His had unwavered from Rory the entire time.

Rory stopped pulverizing the punching bag and started doing his cool-down stretches, "So how about you, is it in your nature to be an ass, or is that trait unique to Logan?" he finished and shot a grin at John, trying to divert the conversation from the track it was heading on.

John smiled, which Rory was glad to see, "I honestly don't know anymore. I mean," he walked over to the bo-staves and poked at them while he talked, "when I was a student here I never really had anyone that I could call a friend. Yeah, there was Bobby and Rogue…but I always felt that they hung out with me to take their attention off of each other, even when they knew I didn't want them around. And then, when we were at Bobby's house after the school got attacked, I just kind of snapped. Here was Bobby, with his loving parents, the perfect family. All I ever had was foster homes. Then…when I saw Logan get shot…I just," he got quiet, his hand dropping to his side, "lost it," he got quiet for a moment, "If it wasn't for Rogue I probably would have killed those cops."

Rory was taken-back by the sudden tale of John's past. He'd never heard John be this honest and heartfelt, "If you could go back and do it again...would you do anything different?"

"I dunno…maybe.

Rory suddenly stood up, making John turn, "C'mere."

John walked over to him, "Okay, why?"

"Because, I'm going to teach you how to fight," Rory explained simply.

"What, why? Isn't Logan already teaching me how?"

"Yeah…but he doesn't know what I'm about to teach you," he grinned, he loved reminding Logan of that fact. "Okay, the first thing is stretching."

"Okay."

"Now, spread your legs to shoulder-width, and reach towards the floor."

"But what about my ribs?"

"I'm gonna slowly push on your back, that way you don't have to compact your ribcage by flexing your muscles. Also, since you'll be relaxed, there'll be more of an effect. Just make sure to tell me when your back feels tight."

John obeyed and Rory started slowly pushing on his back. As he pushed down further John gave a small whimper of pain, "You okay?"

"Yeah, but my back's starting to feel tight." He lied, his rib was screaming at him.

"Kay, I'm just going to hold you here for a few moments. I won't have you do too many stretches, if you aggravate the ribs too much then they'll never heal."

They stayed like that for a few moments before Rory slowly eased John up, placing a hand on his chest while he did. He felt John's heart racing, "You sure you're okay?"

"Aside from the near-blinding pain, of course," he laughed a bit then fell to the floor with his hand over his ribs, "ow."

Rory leaned down, keeping his hand on John's back, "Damn, don't kill yourself, that's my job…remember?" he joked.

John knelt there breathing for a moment then looked at Rory, "I'd rather you do it than anyone else."

Rory screamed at himself in his head, "John…I –" he was cut short as he suddenly sensed a massive amount of energy coming from upstairs, he turned to face it's direction, "the fuck?"

"What?"

Rory stood up and John followed suit, "Something's happening," a loud crash emanated from upstairs, "Come on!"

They both ran as quick as they could. As the door to the elevator slid open on the first floor, kids were screaming as they ran in almost every direction available. The duo ran down the hallway and saw the X-Men standing at the ready. "What the fuck is going - _holy shit your ugly!_" Rory yelled after he turned to see the object of their attention. The one he called ugly roared at him.

"Rory stay out of this!" Storm yelled at him.

"Magneto…" John whispered.

"Ah, so I see you've picked up another stray Charles. To imagine that you'd allow someone like that back in your beloved school is actually quite a surprise. Why don't you just let him return to where he belongs?" the older man said, putting his hand out towards John.

Rory looked at John, he looked like an abused animal looking up at it's master. Casually he put a protective arm in front of the scared boy and guided him behind him. Afterwards he sent a glare at the geezer in front of him, "He's not Xavier's to give over."

"Oh no, and who are you to say this?"

"Stick to the topic Eric," he heard the Professor from the other side of the group, "what do you want with Jean?"

Rory gave Logan a confused look as he unleashed his claws. He turned his head over his shoulder towards John, "Who is this guy?" he spoke in a whisper.

"He's Magneto, the leader in the crusade for mutant superiority. The big guy is Juggernaught, and the woman to his right is Callisto. That's all I know." John finished, not bothering to mention Mystique as Rory already knew her.

Rory looked the ones over that John hadn't named. First there was the ugly dude, quite beastial in appearance, he was holding Emily by the neck…strike 1. There was some HUGE motherfucker, who could probably keep small rocks in orbit. A small asian girl, who wouldn't take her glare off of Logan, and beside her was a young Hispanic woman that seemed to take no interest in what was going on. The last one was a younger scruffy white kid, who looked like he had just smelled rotten eggs.

"My old friend, I want to merely speak with her." Magneto smiled.

"Speaking to someone doesn't require holding a little girl hostage!" Storm spat.

"And have you _ever_ heard of knocking?" Beast said referring to the huge hole in the entryway. Even when it was serious he could still make light of things.

Rory felt Jean just behind them, around a corner, he saw the woman named Callisto looking in her direction, _"They know you're here Jean."_

"_I know, but Magneto's lying about wanting to see me."_

"_Then what the hell does he want?"_

"_You. And before you ask, when you aren't using your powers, it takes Callisto more time to sense you."_

"_Great. Any other important information that I need to know."_

"_Not really…other than the fact that she just did."_

Rory turned back to the group and sure enough, Callisto was staring straight at him. Magneto slowly turned towards where the woman was looking, a grin creeping across his face, "Ah, so Charles, this is your new pet. My, you do have quite a knack for finding ones like this."

"He's none of your concern Eric," Charles snapped.

"Oh, but I think he is Charles. Tell me son, do you know how many humans hate you for being who you are?"

"Do you know how much of a rhetorical question that was…Eric?" Rory said with a bit of a laugh.

The old man's interested look turned into a scowl as he turned towards the ugly guy and nodded his head. Emily whimpered as the man tightened his grip and shook her a bit. A snap emanated from her neck and she fell limp.

"No!" almost all of them yelled in unison. Callisto took this as her chance to use her powers to nab John and take him back to Magneto's side, tossing him over to the Juggernaught. Logan let out a grown and the all familiar 'snickt' rang in everyone's ears. He was just about to jump into action when the asian girl took a step forwards and a second 'snickt' was heard. Logan…was now confused.

Magneto turned back to Rory, who had a panicked look on his face, "Keep answering my questions like that and I won't even have to signal _him_," he motioned to Juggernaught. "Now, what is your name my boy?"

Rory glared daggers at Magneto, "Rory."

"So, tell me Rory," he gave him an evil grin, "How would you like to live in a world where you were no longer feared for being superior to normal humans. Where no one hunted you down like the dog that they believed you to be?"

"Well, so far no one's come after me with a shotgun…so I think that I've been doing pretty good with the 'hunted' part…as for being feared, well," he glared at the Professor, "anyone that fears another for being more powerful than them is an ignorant bastard in my opinion." He couldn't help himself…he just had to get a dig in.

"_Well, that was a bit uncalled for," _Jean said mentally.

"_Yeah, wasn't it though?"_

Magneto laughed as Rory completed his answer, "Yes, well put young man. But I must ask, what will you do when that happens?"

"Honestly, there's only one person that I believe I have the right to kill…and that walking syringe of steroids is holding him."

"Really now?" Magneto looked at John and turned back to Rory, "Might I ask why you hold the rights to this man's life?"

"Because he's one of the people that tried to kill my uncle," Rory paused for a moment, "actually, from what I hear you and Juggs over there…you guys were there too. Heh, guess that makes three people whom I can kill." Rory finished and shot Magneto a shit-eating grin.

"What's your last name Rory?"

"O'Donnel, but my mother's maiden name is Worthington," his grin turned to one more vile as Magneto absorbed his words.

"Well well well. So you're the other heir to the Worthington estate. Ironic, isn't it."

"That the man who created the cure is related to two mutants…kinda." _"Some help here Jean…"_

"_I'd much rather like to see how you handle this on your own, in all honesty."_

"…Bitch…" Rory said under his breath.

"_I heard that."_

"_No shit."_

Magneto surveyed Rory during his quick mental talk with Jean, "Who are you talking to Rory. I know it couldn't be Charles."

"_Fuck,"_ this Magneto guy was good, "Well," he began to pace in front of the X-Men, Bobby, Rogue, and the Professor all glared at him, "seeing as how you asked me that question, I'd say that you already know…don't you?"

"You're honest, that's good." Magneto observed the glares that Rory was receiving, "And I see that you're not very popular among your comrades."

"Heh, my fault I'm afraid," Rory stated, as he looked at the older man, "I haven't been all too nice to them while I've been here. I'm not one for being controlled."

"And what do you think will happen if the humans pass those bills? You will not only be controlled, but controlled by an entire nation…what will you do when that happens."

"You're a smart man Magneto, I'll give you that," he said, stopping right in front of Kitty, finally having come up with a plan, "but I'm afraid that you've got the wrong guy." In that instant he transferred his half of his energy into the statue that Jean was standing next to, and sure enough, Callisto immediately jerked her head in that direction. All of them followed suit, giving Rory an opening. "Get John," he whispered to Kitty right before he made his move. She obeyed and ran to John, phasing him out of the Juggernaught's grasp.

Rory took back in the energy that he re-routed beside Jean and his eyes once again lit with fire. He stopped right in front of Magneto and held a hand up to his face…energy building up in his palm. Magneto glared down at him, "Sorry about that…I have a bad habit of lying on occasion," he regained his shit-eating grin. That's when Rory made his mistake, he turned his attention to John, "You okay?"

John's eyes widened and Rory felt a huge amount of kinetic energy coming towards him. He managed to turn just in time to see the Juggernaught's fist collide with his stomach, which sent him flying through the wall…and the wall after that…and the wall after that. He wasn't even able to absorb anything from the punch, he was too out of it. He finally landed eleven rooms down, and this time he was unable to get up.

Back in the main foyer, an all out battle ensued. The young asian girl took the first opportunity to go for Logan, and the amazing thing was that she was winning. The Hispanic girl had gone for Colossus, she apparently had the power to control water…quite like Iceman was able to form ice from water molecules. He had been taken on by the scruffy guy. Bobby had tried simply freezing him, but the boy would send tremors through the ice and break it right after. Rogue was going at it with the guy that was creating a small atmosphere, which was kinda gross, as her punches would simply absorb into his fat. Juggs was once again facing off with Kitty, and Storm with Callisto. All of this…and Jean still hadn't stepped in.

Magneto was occupying Xavier as Mystique stalked John. He tripped and fell to the ground as he was trying to back away, not wanting to take his eyes off of her should she change.

As out of it as he was, Rory could still sense the energy signature. He held onto it as long as he could, not wanting to let go of it's comfort.

Mystique reached down to pick John up and he swung at her. She grabbed his fist before it made an impact and pulled him up to her. "It's not fun being powerless, is it?" she spat right before headbutting him.

The connection broke and Rory's eyes snapped open.

"So tell me Charles, did you try to do with young Mr. O'Donnel that you did with Jean?"

"That's none of your concern Eric."

"I thought so. When will you learn that you can't control everyone?"

"I never tried to control them Eric."

"Really? Then why did you continue to lock her away?"

"It was for her own protection, just like I was doing with Rory."

"Ah yes, and you see where that got Rory," he glanced through the many holes at the rubble.

"That was not my doing, it was his own error in judgement," Logan flew through a wall behind the professor, the asian girl diving in after him, "He let his emotions get the best of him."

"So what then Charles? You want them to be emotionless, with no feeling at all? You know that's why Jean turned out the way she did with the Phoenix taking over. That part of her was never able to feel what emotions were, it literally went insane with the lust for them."

"I wanted to protect their own power because I didn't want them to become overwhelmed by it!"

Lightning danced in all directions from the sky outside as Rory stood up, encased in a whirlwind of energy.

"No Charles! You're scared of them! Scared of the fact that they hold more power than you, scared that they may not be able to control their power should they one day experience pure emotion, and scared of what they may do to whomever tries to get in their way should they be protecting someone that they care about!"

As he finished the sentence something caught the corner of their eyes. They turned to see Rory stepping through the hole, energy falling off of him as if it were a dense fog. They both turned to where John was laying on the ground. They turned back to Rory, who was kneeling down and looking at Emily. By now, everyone had stopped and turned their attention to the scene that was occurring before them.

Rory was crying.

* * *

**Okay, I had to bring Magneto into this sometime. And lookie!! A sad scene!!! As for Sabertooth, I didn't believe his death in the first movie...so I solved that little problem in the next chapter. Any questions on Rory's powers feel free to e-mail me, as I'm too tired to begin the explanation. R&R pls **


	6. That Cannot Themselves

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING…except for Rory, everything else is property of Marvel and Fox. So please don't sue me!!! .;;**

* * *

Chapter 6 (cont'd) – That Cannot, Themselves

There was a mixture of confusion and sudden sadness among the onlookers. The full effect of that monster taking the young girl's life had caught up with them. Rory turned to the man who killed her, and his sadness turned to anger. He stood, the pool of energy forming at his feet wavering with the movement, and began to walk towards the man that had taken Emily's life.

"What's your name…" Rory asked in a deadly voice. All that he got in reply was a roar, as he kept moving closer and closer, his eyes narrowing. "I asked…your name…"

"It's Sabertooth," Bobby said from behind him.

"Sabertooth…" he continued to move towards the beast in front of him. "I'm going to give you something that you didn't give her…_you_ won't feel…or _know_ a thing." He began to reach up to Sabertooth's head as the man tried to take off running, but tripped from how dense the energy was that was flowing off of Rory. "Being scared for your life doesn't feel too good…does it." Rory's voice was soft, but had a mountain of ice running through it. He flipped the man onto his back so that he could see his eyes. "Now you know how that little girl felt."

From behind he felt Magneto slowly backing away, some of his group starting to follow him. The energy at his feet shot out to all of them, becoming more dense, and keeping them from walking. "Because of that…I take what I said back," energy started to form a whirlwind around him as Sabertooth lifted into the air, "You're going to feel a thousand-fold what she did…" As he spoke tears of energy began to fall from his eyes, "And when I'm done…not even God will be able to recall your existence…"

As much as they wanted to, the X-Men and Brotherhood both, couldn't bring themselves to turn their eyes away from the scene occurring before them. Rory lifted his arms partially from his side, and flooded sabertooths nervous system with energy. Moments later, he dug deeper…into every cell, and every molecule of the monster's body…turning all of it into pure-energy. Jean had come out from behind the corner and almost instantly wished that she hadn't, because what she saw and heard…scared even her.

All became quiet as Rory finished. The torrent of energy swirling around him had calmed…now slowly revolving around him. It had taken on the same golden glow of pure energy that he had turned that monster into. Quietly, he walked over to Emily's body and picked her up. The energy intensified as it began to swirl towards the lifeless body. Rory looked over at Logan, reading his energy signature…then copied it. He held his hand to the girl's throat and sent a steady wave of the copied signature through it. Her throat slowly restructured itself just as the last of the golden energy flowed into her.

She coughed.

Whoever wasn't crying before…certainly was now. Rory walked over to Bobby and handed her to him. He spoke in a soft voice, "A life…for a life. And even then, it doesn't make me better than him." He began to walk off when Bobby finally spoke.

"Rory."

He stopped and turned his head to him.

"I'm sorry…"

"Are you saying that in earnest…or out of fear Bobby?" was all he replied and continued walking.

John, who had come to just as Rory finished destroying Sabertooth, reached towards him, "Rory…"

The red-head cut him off, "I just want to be alone right now John."

Rory walked off to the back-grounds and they all just continued to stand there. Looking back and forth to each other. For the first time since any of them could remember…no one knew what to do or say.

In the days following Rory had holed himself up on the inside. Hardly speaking a word…if even at all. John tried as hard as he could to make him come out of his shell. Even the X-Men tried to help, but Rory still wouldn't budge. A week passed and he had only said enough to form one sentence.

He didn't show up to class anymore to help Ororo, or go to training sessions with Logan or Jean. He would leave the institute abruptly, and in a rush, for no particular reason. Rumors had begun to spin around the school as to where he was going, and just what he had been doing. A few of the worse ones were started by Doug, who was still bitter from their encounter. Young Emily, who had made a full recovery, defended him. She had told the teachers how she had seen a beautiful golden light that had welcomed her back. She called him her angel.

They tried bringing Warren to meet with Rory in yet another attempt to bring him out of his shell…but even then he remained silent. And he continued to do so…even into the weeks that followed. Anything and anyone they tried to use to pull Rory out…he just seemed to pull further inside himself…locking himself away inside an emotionless shell.

John was a wreck. The only person that he had been able to come to call 'friend' was shutting himself off from everyone…including him. Jean wasn't having too good of a time either. Even with how powerful she was, she couldn't get through the barriers of Rory's psyche. John had started coming to her, in desperation, trying to find a way to get to Rory. He had even tried talking to Emma at the club, but even she didn't know what Rory had been doing.

On the twenty-sixth day of silence, John had finally had enough.

He had once again woken up to an empty room. Rory had been waking up earlier and quietly sneaking out. He showered and got dressed then headed downstairs. Storm had brought the class back into the building earlier in the week, so he headed into the classroom. Jean was standing next to her, helping with her former position.

"John, what's wrong?" Ororo asked, ignoring the interruption.

"I'm going to go get him," he turned to Jean, "where is he?"

"I've told you before John, he's blocking me out, I can't find him if he doesn't want me to,"

Emily turned to John as she realized who he was talking about.

"Don't feed me that bullshit Jean," he spat, taking his anger out on her. "Cause if you won't find him then I'm going to Callisto!"

"Don't let your feelings for Rory get in the way of your common sense John…" Jean said softly.

He was about to turn and storm off when he heard Doug say something under his breath.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothin," he turned his head to look at John, "Just didn't know how right I'd be…calling you two fags and whatnot," he spoke through an amused smile.

John walked over to him, to which Doug held out a hand. Before he could gather any force John had grabbed it and slammed it back on the desk behind him, almost breaking it.

"John!" Storm yelled.

Doug threw his other arm up and John grabbed it with his other hand and twisted it, "Let me give you some information on Rory," he said, leaning down and glaring into Doug's eyes, "What he did to you…was just a fraction of what he is capable of. When Jean said that it was a lesson on humility, well, that lesson was for you. He could have ripped you apart with a twitch, and he didn't. You know why? Because he didn't want to. He wanted to try and show you that you should use your powers to protect people, and _only_ for that."

"And what about what he did to that man? We all heard the screams." Doug managed to get out.

"What would you have done, if someone killed an innocent little girl in cold blood? A person who hadn't yet gotten to experience what was taken away from her," he leaned in closer, "He took that monster's life…and gave it to her…while you ran and hid with your tail between your legs." John paused for a moment, Doug was starting to huff, "Tell me…did you scamper off before…or after that man had grabbed her?" he let Doug go after he finished and stormed out of the classroom.

Jean ran after him, "John!" she ran out into the hallway, "Where are you going?"

"I'm paying the Brotherhood a visit…just like I said I was." He continued walking.

"You didn't have to go off on him like that John," she stated, walking a bit faster to catch up with him.

"The rest of them needed to hear it. They needed to know just how idiotic all of those rumors are."

"If I tell you where he is," he stopped when she said this, "will you understand why I didn't want to tell you?"

"I don't make promises Jean…"

"He's at the Frost Industries headquarters, in downtown New York."

He started walking again when he heard the location and muttered under his breath, "Frost, you fucking bitch."

Emma Frost sat at her desk, reading through recent consumer reports when John burst through the door to her office. "Where the fuck is he?"

"Mr. Allerdyce, how many times do we have to go through this, I don't know," she hadn't even bothered looking up from her paperwork.

He wasn't convinced, "Jean said he was here…so where is he?"

"And I already told you, I don't know. Yes, he _was_ here, but I can't read his mind or anything of the sort to know where he's going." She explained as she looked up at him and leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs.

"Well did he give any hint as to where he was going then?" he asked her, his eyes pleading for an answer that would help.

"All I know is that he booked a plane, but I have no clue where to. When I asked all he said was that he was going to where 'the war began' or whatever."

John was watching her as she spoke, she wasn't telling him everything, "And where would that be? I know you know, I can see it in your eyes."

"If you want to find him as badly as I know you do…then you'll figure it out," she replied.

John continued to stare at her for a moment then walked out of the room, shoving past the guards that were called earlier. He made his way back to Rory's car, it wasn't like he was using it, and slammed the door after he got in. _"Alcatraz?"_ he shook his head. That wasn't it. He punched the dashboard and the glove-box popped open. He looked over to it and saw a folded piece of paper that had writing on it. Picking it up and opening it he saw only one word…'Stryker'. Rory's location dawned on him, "Fuck."

John ran into the institute just in time to see the Rogue and Bobby running into the elevator that led to the lower levels. He ran after them, just barely sliding into the compartment. "What's going on?"

"I know where Rory is and I need money for a plane to get to him." John said in a rush.

"Well," Bobby said as the elevator doors opened to the lower levels, "I don't think you're gonna need any money," he said as him and Rogue ran out of the elevator.

John followed, "Whaddya mean?"

They entered the briefing room to find the rest of the X-Men standing around the holographic map. "What's going on Professor?" rogue asked.

"Nothing that concerns John being here," he stated simply.

"If this has anything to do with Rory then I'm staying!" he challenged.

The Professor gave him an appraising look for a few moments then turned back to the holograph, "I called you all here because Jean sensed a massive amount of energy from within the base, just here," he said, pointing to an underground room.

"Are we sure that it's Rory?" Kitty asked.

"Positive," Jean answered the question, "He's the only other mutant alive that could put out that much energy. It was enough to power a small nuclear reactor."

"I thought that it was flooded," Logan said, "Where's all the water?"

"That's what has us worried," Storm took over, "An organization with the name F.O.H. bought the land shortly after the incident at Alcatraz island. They've rebuilt the dam and cleared out all of the water. Their name stands for 'Friends of Humanity', so you can guess what side they're on. What we need to do is find out what happened up there that caused Rory to unleash that much energy."

Rory stood on the edge of a clearing in the forest. He hated that he needed to keep being secretive like this. But if he didn't, then there would be worse things to worry about than petty little tiffs between mutants…and many more people would die in the process. "How're you doing on the cloaking Visionary?"

A kid around the age of eighteen spoke up, "As long as nothing diverts my _attention_ they'll never know that we're here."

He turned his attention back to the scenery in front of him, his thoughts drifting. He had gone to Emma a week after he killed Sabertooth and joined the Hellfire club as their Black King, which required him to constantly be going to meetings. He was surprised to see how in depth the club actually went. It was basically like a spy agency; having operatives keeping track of any major occurrence between mutants and humans…right down to the smallest encounters.

A week ago he was introduced to the people that he was with now. Operatives working directly under the Inner Circle. They had found information that the new anti-mutant organization, the Friends of Humanity, had been working on some large-scale project for the last few months in the former headquarters of William Stryker.

He left his thoughts and walked over to their campsite, sitting across from a young woman with raven hair. "It's almost time…are you sure you can get us in?"

She looked up at him, "Kid, if anyone sees us," she held up her hand and neural energy started to wrap around it, forming a blade, "then they'll live the rest of their lives as a vegetable."

Rory was about to reply when the fourth member of their group walked up to them, his black trench-coat wavering as he walked, "So what you think they doin in there?"

"Whatever it is it can't be good," Rory replied, "Especially if it involves a small nuclear reactor to power it," he checked his watch, "We had better get going." He and the woman stood up and were joined by Visionary. "Remember Psylocke, don't move too fast, I can't hide your signature if I can't keep up with you." She nodded right before running off.

The three remaining weaved their way through the trees and came to the remains of the above-ground facility just as Rory received a message from the woman, "I'm in."

"Good, we'll get ready to enter through the north enterance."

They made their way to the location, Visionary cloaking them as they snuck around. After a few minutes the door unlocked and they rushed in. As Rory shut the door behind them it locked again, "Okay, Psylocke, we're in," he spoke in a hushed voice.

Back on the surface, the X-Jet landed in the same location that it had the first time it was here. "Okay," Storm began, "We need to make this as quick as possible. If anyone sees you then you need to neutralize them quick and fast, that means no killing," she looked at Logan on that one, "Jean," she looked up at the crimson-haired woman, "can you sense him at all?"

"No. All that I can fell are normal humans. He's still hiding himself."

"Is there anything else?"

Jean concentrated for a moment, "Something major is happening in the room that I felt the surge from," she concentrated harder. Her eyes widened suddenly and she looked panicked, "We need to find him…fast!"

From inside the facility a man walked up to Graydon Creed, "Sir, Mr. Trask's sensors have detected mutants close to the area."

"Really now," he turned around, "Is the first line ready?"

"Yes sir, they've just finished with the instillation of the energy supplies."

"Good, let's give them a test-run then…shall we?"

Rory and the two others snuck down a hallway when a rumble went under their feet. "Psylocke, what the hell was that?" there was no response. "Psylocke?"

In the control room that she was in she stood there, five men behind her with guns pointed. "Yeah, I'd say that they know we're here…"

"Shit!" he said out loud, "MOVE!"

They all took off running, winding their way further into the facility. They came up on a group of guards running towards them and Visionary dropped their cloak as Rory jumped off of the wall, kicking the nearest in the head. He took the second while the Cajun took the other. They both fell pretty quick and the group kept moving. They came up to the control room that Psylocke was in just in time to see a guard two guards fly into the wall just outside, one right after the other.

Psylocke ran out immediately after and joined them in the race. "Did you get the files?!" Rory yelled behind him.

"I didn't have time!"

"Fuck!" he said under his breath.

"Sir, we've picked up four more mutant signatures inside the facility! They're headed for the west entrance!"

"WHAT! Reroute two of the units just outside of the west entrance, now!"

Rory rounded the corner towards the west entrance, followed quickly by the other three. "GAMBIT!"

The man with the accent grabbed a metal ball off of his belt, charged it with kinetic energy, then threw it ahead of him…blowing open the door. Just as all of them ran outside two gigantic pairs of metal feet landed right in front of them and they all skidded to a halt.

A computerized voice sounded out, "_Mutant signatures recognized. Profiles…unknown. Obtaining commands…terminate."_

"I don't think we need those files anymore…"

They all scattered just as a huge plasma blast was fired. Psylocke jumped up to the head of the first robot, attempting to do _something_ with her sword to damage it. Gambit threw anything he could at them, barely making any dents. Visionary was condensing the light all around him, forming lasers that went in all directions, then circled around back towards the gigantic feet. Rory charged his fists with kinetic energy and jumped, proceeding to punch one of the robots and send it flying into the distance. He paused right after as he sensed the familiar signatures of the X-Men on the other side of the base.

"Oh god…" he said, just before a plasma blast collided with him, sending him flying. He regained his equilibrium after a few seconds and returned the favor to the robot. Blowing a hole through it's chest piece.

Visionary managed to re-direct a plasma-blast from the second into it's head almost at the same time the first one fell to the ground.

As the second fell, Rory sensed people running for the west entrance from inside the facility. "Get over to the east side of the facility, now!"

They cooperated, beginning to run in the directed position. As they made their way, men started shooting at them from behind. Just as they made their way around the bend to the east side, a robotic head flew towards them and they all jumped out of the way. "What da 'ell!?" Gambit yelled as he looked up to see Logan running over to them.

"What the hell are you doing, and just who the hell are these guys?!" he yelled.

"I'll explain later!" Rory yelled back as he shoved Logan out of the way of a plasma blast. Afterwards he looked around for John, finding him dodging plasma blasts from one of the huge robots. Chaos was ensuing all around them as the X-Men tried to fend off their gargantuan assailants. "Storm, get everyone back to the jet! Phoenix, rip those fucking things apart!" he yelled to both of them, taking charge.

Storm ordered everyone back to the jet, just as she was told…but not before giving Rory a glare for being so pretentious. Jean however, jumped at the opportunity to stop holding back, and within seconds the robots had been disintegrated. Now all they had to worry about was the militia that was coming their way. Rory got his group and began to lead them to the jet, bullets and laser-blasts once again following them, "Visionary, take a photo!"

A bright flash emanated from behind them, dazing the armed men running towards them. They made it onto the jet just as the engines revved up, and soon they were in the air.

"You know these people Energist?" Psylocke said from the back of the jet.

"Can it, if anyone is gonna be askin questions, it's gonna be us!" Logan said sternly, causing psylocke to form a psy-blade and take a few steps towards him, stopping when Rory put an arm out to stop her, "Just what the hell do you think you're doing Rory? Huh?"

"I could ask you the same question Logan!"

"Well would you like to explain why you turned yourself into a nuclear reactor then?!" Iceman yelled.

"Well for the X-Men's information, that WAS a nuclear reactor! And one of the reasons that me and my team were given this assignment!" he yelled back.

"Your _what?!_" Logan questioned.

"You mean to tell us that you shut yourself away. Worrying half of us, and John especially, to death…just so that you can go play 'spy'?!" Storm spat at him.

"No, I went and played 'spy', as you put it, because the Friends of Humanity have been working on a major project with a man named Bolivar Trask! Which is more than likely what we just saw. And I'll be damned if I see any of you get hurt, especially John!" he stopped yelling when he realized what he had just said, tears were beginning to form in his eyes.

"Rory," Kitty walked up to him him, "You don't have to be in a different place to protect the people that you care about."

"For this…yeah I do."

"Can someone please tell me just what the hell is going on?" Visionary spoke up from the back.

"Visionary, Psylocke, Gambit…these are the X-Men. I lived with them at Xavier's institute."

"Really…I hadn't guessed," she replied snidely.

"Easy Betsy, you don' wan' to insult da people drivin our get'way car…do ya?" Gambit spoke up finally.

"Remy's got you there Psylocke," Visionary said, "Where are we headed by the way?"

Rory sighed, "Home."

John paced back and forth in the control room. He had been doing so since they left. A sudden vocalization from the intercom startled him into tripping.

"_Beast, this is Jean, we're almost home."_

"I read you my dear. Did you find Rory?"

"_Yes, he's with us…and three others. And Hank?"_

"Yes?"

"_Tell the Professor to get ready for trouble, what we found there was definitely not a good thing for mutants."_

"It never is, I'll inform him though, Beast out."

A wave of relief washed over John when he heard that Rory was with them. He waited with Beast for them to return.

When the Jet landed, the Professor, Beast, and John waited at the side for the hatch to open. The X-Men filed out, followed by Rory and his team…all of whom seemed a bit on edge, though Rory's reasons were a bit different. He made his way up next to Jean, walking up to the Professor. The elder-mutant was about to say something to him when he was cut off. "Professor, now really isn't the time, get Emma over here. We need to start planning for what the next step is going to be."

"Very well, but we will talk about this," Xavier added.

"That's fine," Rory walked on, pretending to not notice John's eagerness, "Oh, and Professor…tell her to bring the rest of the club."

Almost half an hour passed by the time the helicopter landed. Delivering Emma and the rest of the Inner Council to the Xavier institute. "We came as soon as we heard my king." A stout man said, shaking Rory's hand. He was followed by two more people, each looking as important as him. The comment earned Rory a confused look from John.

They made their way down to the control room where they began the briefing. The X-Men gave the Inner Council appraising looks the entire time, "Okay," Rory started, Psylocke and Jean stood to his side, "Just so you know, we were never able to retrieve the data…which was the entire point of this mission. But when we were making our way out of the facility, we were attacked by these," he pressed a button and a picture of one of the robots popped up on the screen. "They stood approximately three stories tall, and from what we can tell, were designed for only one purpose…to hunt down and kill mutants."

"Their weaponry is highly advanced, being able to project plasma blasts with excellent precision. Whatever their armor is made of," Psylocke continued, "is extremely strong, and can withstand one hell of a beating."

"How could the Friends of Humanity obtain the funds to build these?" Beast asked.

"That's something that we're still trying to figure out," Emma answered, "We've had one of our members keeping track of any bank account that has more than seven-figures sitting in it…and we still haven't found anything."

"Along with their weaponry and armor," Rory continued, "they also have superior technology. They can read mutant energy signatures, and seem to have a limited A.I. system, though it could be more advanced than what we saw."

"How are they able to have built so many of these so quickly?"

"With a small nuclear reactor," Jean took over, "I was mistaken when I said that it was Rory. This room," she pointed to it on the holograph, "is their main construction facility for these atrocities. I caught a glimpse of one of the mechanic's thoughts…turns out that they're calling these things 'Sentinels'."

The rest of the meeting went somewhat smoothly. After they left Rory leaned against one of the trees near the pond, watching as the sky began to change with the coming of sunrise. "Hey…" John said, walking up to him.

"Hey."

"You know…you had us pretty worried." He stood beside him.

"Yeah…sorry 'bout that."

"So…why'd you do it…join the hellfire club I mean."

"I wanted to protect everyone I care about."

"By almost getting yourself killed?"

"I wouldn't have let that happen."

"Even so…you can protect us without running away."

"You mean where everyone's scared of me and what I can do? Scared of what I'd do should anyone succeed in hurting one of them?"

"Is that your new excuse to separate yourself from everyone? That they're scared of you?" he sat down, "Sounds to me like you're just scared of getting attatched."

"You don't know what it's like to kill anyone…do you John?"

He actually had to think on that for a moment, "No. But even if I did…I don't think I'd runaway from the fact."

Rory began to choke on his own words, "I'm not running away from it John." It was a shit lie, and both of them knew it.

"Then what are you running away from?"

"I'm not running away from anything!"

"Then _who_ are you running from?"

"EVERYONE, OKAY!" tears started falling from his eyes, "Everything that anyone here has done to me; the Professor treating me like I'm a constant threat, Bobby acting like he knows better than everyone, Kitty being too damned nice no matter what, Ororo playing surrogate mother to the entire student body, all of whom treat me like I'm Jack the fucking Ripper," he stopped for a moment and swallowed, "all of that…and I still want to protect them. I tried my damndest not to get attached to any of them…"

John stood up, "And what about me?"

Rory looked into his eyes, "You're the one that scares me the most John."

"…Why?"

He took a couple of steps towards him, "Because…even if I am the only person that you would accept taking your life," he put a hand up to John's cheek, "I could never bring myself to do it."

John couldn't hold it back anymore as tears started to fall across his cheeks. He put his hand up to Rory's cheek and leaned into him, meeting Rory halfway. Rory lifted both of them into the air as they kissed.

Rory slowly sent energy into John…destroying any of the cure that was still in his system…and allowing him full use of his powers once again. Flames began to surround them and John broke the kiss. "What's happening?" he asked, looking at the fire that was swirling around their bodies, "I can feel it…" he looked into Rory's eyes.

The red-head smiled, "It's my gift to you…Pyro," he tilted his head a bit as he said the last word.

John smiled broadly as he resumed the kiss. Energy began to join the dance just as the sun came over the horizon.

* * *

**I know, I know...sappy ending. Glad that I was able to bring Psylocke and Gambit into this tho. They're such fun characters . As always, R&R pls.**


	7. Omens and Omegas

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING…except for Rory, everything else is property of Marvel and Fox. So please don't sue me!!! .;;**

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Chapter 7 - Omens and Omegas

Over the course of the next few weeks Rory's attitude towards the rest of the students at the institute drastically changed. He started treating everyone like they were friends instead of just any other person. He and John had started hanging out with Rogue, Bobby and Kitty.

Gambit and Psylocke showed up at the institute every few days when he couldn't make it to meetings to inform him of recent changes in the F.O.H.

Jean had informed him that the X-Men were debating on whether or not to pass on the offer to Rory to join…something that he was surprised to hear. Especially with the fact that the Professor _supported _the idea.

And he and John just couldn't stop kissing each other.

All in all…life was great.

"Sir, three waves are now completed, and we're working on the fourth. All of the changes that you have requested have been implemented."

"Good. How is the new prototype coming along?"

"Excellent. It's truly amazing, the technology that we found in that tomb in Egypt. To think that it's more than three-thousand years old is unthinkable."

"That it is Trask. Have your men been able to open the chamber yet?"

"Sadly no, but they have apparently found new hieroglyphs that describe what is inside. The translations are still being worked on though."

"Well, no need to rush things Trask. Just make sure they focus on harvesting that technology."

"Trust me Creed, there will be no problem with that."

Rory stepped out of the Professor's office from a meeting. Apparently the F.O.H. was still keeping quiet in the eyes of the nation…which meant that whenever they started causing a problem, it would just be that much worse.

He met John, Bobby, and Kitty in the kitchen, where they were talking over current events. He sat down next to John and wrapped his arm over his shoulders. "What are you guys up to?"

"Well if you _must_ know," came the smartass reply from Kitty, "Someone's opened up a mutant-only resort on some island called Genosha."

"Really? I haven't heard word on this," Rory was immediately interested.

"Well, it's not like the hellfire club can have their hands in _everything_," Bobby stated.

"You'd be surprised," the red-head replied, "Anyways, something about it doesn't feel right."

"I think it sounds pretty cool, it's a beautiful place," she turned the paper to Rory, showing him the deep-blue water surrounding white, sandy beaches.

"Where's it at?" he asked.

"About thirty miles off of the coast of Brazil."

"Whad'ya think Rory, it'd be an excellent vacation spot," John cooed, nuzzling Rory.

"And just when will I have time for a Vacation between teaching here, and playing chess?"

"Well, make time then," came the response from the boy on his shoulder.

"Easier said than done I'm afraid," he looked at his watch, "Damnit, I've gotta go. I need to get to Frost Industries for a meeting," he gave John a kiss, "I'll see you when I get back," he waved bye to Bobby and Kitty and walked out of the room towards the garage.

"Ah, he's a man of business," John said, stretching and slouching in the chair.

"He's a man of _something _alright," Kitty smirked, throwing her feet across Bobby, "but I tend to think that the business _you_ want isn't the kind that he's speeding off to right now," she finished, giving Pyro a wry grin.

"Oh come on Kitty, they haven't even been dating that long," Bobby said from beside her.

"Hey! I can speak for myself!" John looked over to Kitty, pausing before he spoke, "Come on Kitty, we haven't even been dating that long!"

Rogue entered the kitchen in the middle of Bobby and Kitty's laughing and sat down next to John. She had come to terms with Bobby dating Kitty a few months prior…and besides…she had someone else on her mind when it came to relationships. "Hey ya'll, what's goin on?"

"Nothin much," John replied, "those two are just going insane…thusly proving that my theory on heterosexual relationships is correct."

"Where'd Rory go in such a hurry?"

"Eh, another meeting with Emma and them," John sighed.

"Huh, I wonder if Remy's gonna be there…" she said absentmindedly.

"Well, what's on your mind?" Bobby prodded, raising a playful eyebrow.

"Nuthin that isn't always on your own," she retorted, giving him an innocent grin, and making Bobby blush.

Rory walked into the meeting room to find the usual crowd of the Hellfire Club and his team. He walked over and sat next to Emma, "Before anything gets started, why didn't we receive any information on this 'Genosha' thing?"

"That's actually what we were about to address," Emma explained, "We read papers too ya know," she gave him a wry grin.

"I'll make a note to show my awe at the fact later," he retorted, "So what do we know about it?"

"The island of Genova is a small country actually, just around the size of Massachusets. It's slowly grown into being one of the richest, self-sustaining countries in the world," a younger woman stated from the black side of the table, "which is actually quite surprising, as it hardly participates in any trade whatsoever."

"Anything that would give a reason for suspicion?" Rory asked.

"Nothing. Everything has been absolutely legal, in every aspect of the term. I checked their views towards mutants, and still nothing. They seem to be everything they say they are."

Rory sighed and looked over the documents that were passed out to everyone, "Something about it still makes me uneasy…it doesn't make sense for some random country to all of a sudden start acting so friendly when the rest of the world thinks that mutants still pose a possible threat."

"The Black King is right, I think that we should send in operatives."

"I agree, but for now we should get on to other matters," Emma took over, "have we been able to get any more information on the F.O.H.?"

"Nothing I'm afraid," Psylocke spoke up, "Other than a few minor attacks on mutants composed by petty militias, there's been nothing."

"Just make sure to keep an eye on them, they've already shown that they're up to something big."

Rory walked through the front doors of the institute and scanned the signatures for John, finding him right where he left him. He walked into the kitchen and gave him a kiss, "Hey, don't you ever move?" he sat across from him.

"Only when it suits me."

"So what happened while I was gone?"

John was about to answer when an excited Kitty ran into the Room, "Rory! Did you hear about the dance?!"

He gave a confused look. John took the opportunity to speak before Kitty could, "Storm announced that there's gonna be a dance this Friday for the students with the teachers as chaperones."

"That's pretty cool, what time is it?"

"It starts at eight, and goes until midnight," Kitty answered, "But the older students are already making plans for an after-party."

"That's a death-wish if I ever heard one," Rory smirked as Kitty stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, I need to go get started on choosing what I'm gonna wear, see you guys!" she quickly said as she skipped out of the room.

"Well, you can take the girl out of the Valley…" he turned to John, "So, you wanna go?"

"What, to the dance?" John asked.

"Well…yeah."

"I don't know…unlike Kitty, I don't have anything to wear," he replied, looking at Rory through his bangs.

"You mean to tell me that there's nothing in my closet of doom that you would wear?" Rory returned the look.

"No, just nothing sexy enough to compliment you!" he replied, giving him a shit-eating grin.

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess I'm just gonna have to take you shopping!" he grinned and stood up, pulling John after him by the arm.

They walked towards the garage, passing a bummed Rogue. "Hey, you okay Anna?"

"If you call not having someone to go to the dance with okay…then yeah," she retorted and walked off.

"Hmm…I have an idea," Rory whispered to John, "Hey Rogue!"

"I can't believe you convinced me to do this," Rogue gruffed from the backseat.

"Hey, I'll be damned if I don't see you at that dance," Rory said from the driver's seat, "besides, think of this as an 'I'm sorry' for treating you the way I did."

"Your way of saying 'I'm sorry' is by turning me into a dress-up doll?"

"Yeah, we gay men have to be good for something," he teased, pulling into the parking lot.

They made their way into the clothing shop and Rory stopped them at the door, "Okay, get to shopping kids!"

It took all of them thirty minutes to meet back up, Rory was holding the most clothing, "Jesus Rory, no wonder you have a full closet!" John said, aghast at the amount his boyfriend was carrying.

Rory sat the pile down on a nearby chair and looked at the few articles of clothing that the other two were carrying, "Oh it's not all for me. I took the liberty of picking things out for you guys also."

John and Rogue looked at each other, somewhat unsure of what they had just gotten themselves into.

"Well don't just stand there looking at each other, get to trying the clothes on!"

Two hours later they finally arrived back at the institute, John and Rogue exhausted from the 'Rory shopping experience'. They returned to their respective rooms and Rory began to hang up the clothes.

"Remind me to never go shopping with you again," John said, flopping down on his bed.

"Oh it wasn't that bad," Rory stated, "besides, aren't you the one who hinted to needing new clothes?"

"New clothes, yes…but not a new wardrobe."

"Yeah, I can get a little carried away sometimes," he replied with a grin.

"If that's you getting 'a little' carried away, I'd hate to see what happens when you loose complete control!" John said, getting ready to go to sleep. He was stopped suddenly as Rory wrapped his arms around his waist.

"Something tells me you wouldn't really hate it," he purred into John's ear. John leaned his head back, allowing Rory to nibble on part of his exposed flesh. He slid his fingers under John's shirt, feeling the now taught muscles. Rory's hands made their way to John's sides and he stopped.

"What's wrong?" John asked, catching his breath.

"We probably shouldn't do this," he replied.

"Yeah…" he slid his hand over Rory's and held it.

"Ya know, if you want…you can sleep in my bed tonight…"

John pulled Rory's arm tighter around him, "I'd like that."

Rory led John over to his bed and they got in, snuggling up to each other, "John?"

"Mmhmm."

"Night."

"Night Rory."

Rory woke up the next morning and stretched. He rolled over to see John walking out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. "About time you woke up."

"Morning to you too," Rory replied, looking up at the blonde from his pillow.

John watched as Rory stared at his body, "Are you gonna get ready, or just stare at me all day?"

The red-head threw his legs over the edge of the bed and sat up, "Well," he grabbed John and pulled him onto the bed beside him, "when you give me a choice." He kissed him as he finished the sentence.

They laid there kissing for a few minutes, both of them getting into it. Rory's free hand ran over the exposed flesh of John's torso. John, in turn, had his own hand running under Rory's shirt. Rory began to move his hand down towards the towel and grabbed hold of it, "I'm gonna need this," he said, standing up and yanking the towel off of John. Leaving the blonde stark naked on his bed.

"You know, you could have just asked…" John said as Rory made his way into the bathroom.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" came the echoed reply.

John grinned and shook his head, walking over to the cabinet that held the underwear. From behind Rory whistled, 'causing John to turn his head.

"Nice," the red-head grinned.

"Oh shut-up and get clean," John replied, pulling on the boxers.

Rory laughed and undressed himself, hopping into the shower and turning on the water.

When they were both dressed Rory and John headed downstairs to Ororo's class. John sat up front, as he had been doing for the past week. Storm started the class with a review over the work from the day before. Afterwards she began that days lesson, "Okay class. Continuing with our lesson on mutant history," she started to slowly pace in front of them, "we have been able to trace back mutants to nearly three hundred years ago. Reasearch shows that it may go back further, however there is no solid evidence to prove this."

"From what we can surmise, mutants have been around for almost as long as recorded history. The ancient pantheons of Greek and Roman myth, were more than likely some of the first of our kind," Rory took over, "there are also many more possible occurrences, as almost every other known culture in the past couple of thousand years has references to people with powers."

A young boy raised his hand in the back, "How long ago do you think mutants have existed?"

"Well," Storm took over again, "From what we have found, we know that mutants go back to around the year 500 BC. We have reason to believe, however, that mutants have been around for much longer."

"What do you think the first mutant was like?" the same boy asked again.

"Well, as with any first step of evolution, the first mutant could have been one of two things. First, and most likely, it was imperfect. The DNA was not able to handle the physical aspect of mutation, and the person died. Unable to sustain it's own life," she paused for a moment, "the second, gets a bit more complicated."

"How so?" John asked, interested.

"Well," Rory spoke up, "if the mutant was able to cope with the mutation. Which would have been a feat in itself, as the first of any new species goes through tremendous changes, both physically and mentally. In a simple explanation, should the first mutant have survived through manifestation, which probably occurred at an extremely early age, then there is no way to categorize what kind of power they would have. It can easily be said that they would be the most powerful mutant alive, even in today's society. They would be, in one word…perfect."

In Egypt, Trask's expedition team is still working on unearthing the mysteries of the tomb that they discovered. One man stands away from the rest of the team, going over the hieroglyphics on the wall.

A man runs over to another with an excited expression. They both run to a large, elaborate door where a group of men are slowly inching it open. They both grab crowbars and start to help out. Inside the chamber, two eyes open, with red irises.

Rory was about to hand the class over to Storm when he froze. A feeling of dread washed over him like a tidal wave. _"Yeessss, you may just be worthy to join with me…but first…to test your mind and power…"_

Rory screamed as he felt a massive surge of energy flow into him, causing him to fall to his knees. He clutched his head, trying desperately to keep in control of his powers. Visions and memories began to enter his mind that weren't his. He could hear Storm and John yelling for help as the power within him continued to try and break free. Tears began to stream down his face as he tried harder and harder to hold back. After a few more moments, it was too much.

Energy erupted around him in all directions, flowing from his body. With each new memory that entered his mind, another wave escaped from him.

"_Yesss, you and her are the epitome of power for our kind…and will make worthy additions to my ranks."_

The memories ended and Rory knelt there, wrapped in John's arms. He stood up, John following, and quickly scanned for Jean, finding her in the main foyer. Half of the X-Men were already crowding around her.

"Rory, what happened?" John asked from his side.

"En Sabah Nur…" he whispered, then shook off the memories and turned to John, "We need to get to Jean!"

Rory bolted out of the classroom, streaking past Storm and Beast, who were running towards them. He rounded the corner to the main foyer and shoved his way past the X-Men to Jean. She looked up at him, and he could tell that the same thing had just happened to her…with her seeing everything that he did. They each held the same expression of fear behind their eyes.

"What just happened?" Storm said, walking back to the group.

Neither Jean or Rory spoke. They continued to look into each other's eyes. Rory decided to finally break the silence, "Hank…what does 'En Sabah Nur' mean?"

"Well," the blue furred mutant replied, "In ancient Egyptian it stands for 'the first one', why?"

Rory snapped his head towards Beast, "What?" his voice showed fear.

"It means, 'the first one'."

"Rory, what's going on?" Kitty asked, unnerved at the fact that the most powerful mutants alive were scared of something.

"Jean, handle everything here. I want everyone able to be at the Frost Industries headquarters in no less than two hours," he started walking out to the garage, motioning for John to follow him, "Oh, and make sure that Magneto's there."

"Magneto!" Bobby yelled form behind him, "You can't be serious!"

Rory ignored him and walked with John to his car. "Rory, what the hell is going on!?" John was starting to get irked.

"Remember what I said about the first mutant?"

"Yeah."

Rory slammed his door and started the car, "He just made his presence known," and slammed his foot down on the accelerator

They screeched into a halt in front of the frost industries building and both got out. Once upstairs Rory threw open the doors to Emma's office. The people sitting in front of her desk turned suddenly.

"Mr. O'Donnel!" she stood up and put her hands on her desk, "I'm currently with clients, so if you could please wait outside."

"Shut it Emma," he turned his attention to the clients, "Out!"

"Do you know who you're talking too young man?!" the pudgy man said from his chair.

"Yeah, someone who doesn't even have the wit to make it in the Hellfire club, now get the fuck out!" Rory spat back.

"And just why should I listen to a word you say you pompous little brat?!"

"Fuck it," he turned his attention back to Emma, "Call an emergency council meeting. I want every single member here within two hours."

"Rory!" Emma yelled. Shocked that he would say things of the inner council in front of normal people.

"I'm serious Emma! I want every single contact that can make it to be there as well; the avengers, fantastic four, the hulk, spiderman, and anyone else that you can get ahold of."

"What's happening Rory!?"

"Just do it Emma!" he yelled, then turned and marched off to the meeting room.

Within thirty minutes people started entering the room and taking their seats. John, who was sitting beside Rory, watched as Rory remained completely calm, as if he weren't even aware that people were here. The X-Men filed in around the hour mark, the brotherhood following them, which caused quite a stir. Mutants and heroes alike continued to show up for another hour, at which point, news crews began to haunt the entrance to the building.

After three hours, Rory stood up. He motioned for Beast and Jean to join him and Emma at the front of the room. "Thanks for coming, all of you. I know that you each have your own problems to deal with at the current moment…but with what just occurred earlier, to Jean and myself, then there's more important things to give our attention to."

"Before anything else is said, just who the hell are you?" a man around his mid-twenties said, whom Rory recognized as being the Human Torch.

"My name is Rory O'Donnel. I'm cousin to Warren Worthington, inheritor to half of the Worthington estate, Black King of the Hellfire Club, and the only other class five mutant in existence other than Jean Grey. Any other questions?"

The Human Torch shook his head, somewhat irked at the fact that a young kid had so much power. "Okay, I have brought all of you here on a matter of worldwide alert. As I'm sure that some of you felt, earlier today a mutant was able to gain control of both myself and Jean. I believe that it may be the first mutant to ever exist."

"Before we listen to what you believe, I think that we're going to need some hard evidence," the man known as the Hulk stated.

Rory was about to snap at him as well when Callisto spoke up, "I can provide that," she looked at Rory, "My mutation allows me to sense other mutants and their power levels. This morning, I almost went into a seizure when I sensed the amount of power that erupted within these two. Neither of them are capable of that much power. I was able to get an idea of the location before it ended. It came from somewhere in central Egypt."

"Also, if that is not enough for all of you," Beast stepped forwards, "I managed to get some research done on the name 'En Sabah Nur', which, go figure, stands for 'The First One'. The name goes back almost seven thousand years, to the early dynasties of the Egyptian Empire. The name is connected to a man, born into a group of thieves and outlaws, who possessed incredible strength and stamina. He fought as if a demon had possessed him, and was literally unbeatable," he paused for a moment, "the stories end there."

The mass of heroes and mutants alike, stood there, unknowing of what to say. Rory was somewhat pissed that they listened more to Beast than him…but he understood why, as beast was probably the most respected member of metahuman society.

"What are we to do then?" Iron Man asked.

"There will be only one team going in…the best and most powerful of those here will form it. Hulk, Ice Man, Iron Man, Magneto, the Fantastic Four, and Captain America, will join Jean and myself on this mission," he paused as an uproar came from almost anyone who wasn't named. He raised his hands and shouted above them, "HEY! I know that you all want to help, but if En Sabah Nur is as powerful as we believe he is, then the only people that have a chance to do anything to him, are the ones that I named. If they would follow me to the X-Jet, then we can get going."

He waited for them to walk out of the room then proceeded to follow them. He was ten steps out the door when John grabbed him by the arm, "I'm going with you!"

"I don't want you to get hurt John, no you're not," Rory replied, rubbing the blonde boys arm.

"And you think that I want to see you get hurt?!" the retort caused Rory to flinch, "I'm going with you."

Rory turned to face him and saw fear and concern in his eyes, "Okay, but I want you to listen to everything I say, alright?"

John nodded in reply and they walked to the roof, boarding the Jet. The reporters went wild, as the Jet flew over them. This was going to be big news. A gathering of the most powerful metahumans, good and bad, had to be a sign of something big.

Emma turned on the television in the meeting room, the screen displaying the outside of the building they were in. A female reporter speaking of ominous deeds…just what all of them expected to hear. They all watched in concern as the woman continued speaking.

Inside the jet, no one spoke as Bobby flew. The passengers held worried expressions…even Magneto. Rory would never hold onto John as tight as he did then.

* * *

**As always in the Marvel Universe...there's no such thing as a coincidence. Sorry if it seems that I'm rushing the story along a bit, but I'm going to be puting this into comic form so that I can work on my drawrins. R&R**


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